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6 BEST Pieces Of Business Advice That Made Me Millions | E103

October 25, 2021 / 26:42

This episode features Steve Bartlett answering questions from his audience about focus, character traits for success, and overcoming challenges in business and personal life.

Steve discusses the importance of focus for young entrepreneurs, emphasizing that dividing attention among multiple pursuits can hinder success. He shares his experience of dedicating himself to one business idea early in his career.

He addresses character traits necessary for success, highlighting self-belief and resilience as crucial during the early stages of launching a business. Steve explains that these traits help entrepreneurs navigate challenges and setbacks.

Steve also tackles the topic of imposter syndrome, suggesting that feeling like an imposter is a sign of growth and a natural part of pursuing new challenges.

Finally, he provides advice on seeking mentorship, stressing the importance of empathy and understanding the busy lives of potential mentors.

TL;DR

Steve Bartlett answers audience questions on focus, success traits, imposter syndrome, and mentorship strategies.

Video

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quick one the dire ceo live my live show
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my live reincarnation of this podcast is
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coming on tour and it's coming to a city
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near you there's a link in the
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description below put your email address
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in and i will email you when tickets go
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on sale
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can't wait to see
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[Music]
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i get so many questions from all of you
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guys in my dms in the comment section on
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youtube everywhere so i want to try
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something new i'm going to start
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answering some of those questions that
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i've historically answered privately in
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public so more of you can gain access to
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those answers i asked everybody in my
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telegram community to submit videos of
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questions that they want answered from
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me and in this video today i'm going to
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answer those questions with total
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total honesty and these questions range
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across business to personal questions to
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questions about relationships and mental
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health and challenges that you're facing
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so here
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is the first question you asked me this
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week
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my name is daniela i'm 18 and i'm about
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to enter my first year you need to study
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economics i have a lot of commitments
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i'm running a business my business
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partner i'm making music i'm learning
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languages and i'm playing sports and i
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worry that my focus is split
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how do you suggest i move forward do you
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think i should grip my teeth and balance
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everything to the best of my ability or
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do you think i should prioritize and
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sacrifice for better quality output
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despite loving every single thing i'm
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looking forward to your response thank
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you so much for listening
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i think the single biggest lesson that i
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learned when i was starting off early in
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my business career was the importance of
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focus and i had this drummed into me by
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one of my investors one day when i came
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to them and presented this new idea
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which was an addition to the current
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company that i was building and they hit
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me really hard with this like verbal
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whip and told me they said steve focus
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is everything and that stayed with me i
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was annoyed at the time because
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naturally when you're a creative person
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and a very inspired person as many of us
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are you have so many ideas and the
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problem is you can't take on all of
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those ideas at once and any attempt to
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do so compromises each individual idea
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so if you have three ideas and you're
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giving them 33 of your time each the
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chance of mastery or success in any of
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those things is drastically drastically
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reduced and especially when it comes to
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business if you're giving anything less
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than 100 of your focus to your business
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you you can rest assured that there are
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very competent probably better funded
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competitors out there that are giving
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100
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focus and your time is the only currency
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that you have so making the decision to
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invest only a part of your time and
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focus into what you're doing is a
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decision
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to reduce the chance of a really
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successful outcome and here's another
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thing so i don't know how
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solid this is as advice but honestly
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when you're young and you're broke and
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you're bootstrapping focus matters even
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more so for me
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what i would do and when i think about
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the 50 years of my career is at the very
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very start i'd go very very very narrow
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and i'd try and succeed in something
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that'll be the gateway if it is
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successful to me being able to build my
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resources my financial resources my team
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so that i can focus on multiple things
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and that's really the trajectory i've
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taken in my life i at 18 years old
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focused on one thing one business idea
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and really nothing else and when i say
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nothing else i also mean a lot of
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personal things were sacrificed i
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focused on that for the for about seven
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years in total that business became a
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success i now have resources to allocate
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against multiple
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things that i want to do which frees up
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more time so i can start companies now
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and not even be the ceo of these
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businesses but when you're when you're
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starting out in life in your career
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that's not a luxury you have so my
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advice for young people would be to do
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everything in your power to focus in
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business what we do is we operate in
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sprints which means when you have an
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idea you assemble a team around it and
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you focus them for a dedicated and
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predetermined period of time say three
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months or six months only on that idea
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to give it its best possible chance of
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success and after those six months you
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assess it and you make very brutal very
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honest very ego-free decisions whether
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to continue or not that's how i like to
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think about focus and projects and how
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to make the decisions around allocating
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your time what you really should do if
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you want to give an idea its best
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possible chance of success
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if you want to give djing your best
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possible chance of successful writing
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that book or becoming a content creator
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is you should look at the task and
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dedicate the next six months to doing
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that and only that if you allocate time
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to other things in that period you're
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reducing the chance of a positive
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outcome for that one thing and i i tend
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to see as well especially young
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entrepreneurs when they have multiple
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businesses and multiple things they're
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pursuing in multiple things they're
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trying to master at the same time as the
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phrase goes they become the master of
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none which means they kind of stumble
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through life never really achieving any
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real substantive success because they've
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spent all of their life trying things in
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a half-assed timid way if you want to be
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successful if you want to get mastery in
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anything that matters to you here's
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where discipline really really matters
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you have to install into your mind
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something i call the sunday shelf which
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is
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inspiration comes to you you have a new
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idea when you're walking down the street
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or in the shower you think that's
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brilliant that will be a multi-gazillion
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dollar idea we all do it if you want to
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be successful don't then add it into
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your successful idea don't then try and
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contend with two different ideas and
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give 50 to each put it on the sunday
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shelf and see if it nags you the great
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ideas will sit there on that someday
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shelf and they will nag you and if it
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nags you for long enough
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six months for a year then maybe it's
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time to take action but my mind has a
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someday shelf on it that has hundreds
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and hundreds of hundreds of things on it
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and if something sits there for more
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than a year more than six months and
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it's still screaming at me and it
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doesn't dissolve away and
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collect dust on the sunday shelf and
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disappear into the back then i pull it
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forward and i put a plan in place to
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give it the sprint it deserves to
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resource that idea and give it its best
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possible chance of success
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hiya stephen my name's chloe and my
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question to you is what do you believe
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to be the most important character trait
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that a person has to possess in order to
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achieve a hugely successful business
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i would love to know
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in terms of character traits to build
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really successful businesses i kind of
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think of it in stages and i think of it
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in stages of the business's life the
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question here is about the character
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traits it's not about skills or talent
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or resources it's about character so at
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the very start of launching your company
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the most important character trait is
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self-belief is believing that you can
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because businesses they feel like mount
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everest at your doorstep and they look
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like incredibly daunting tasks that you
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typically
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don't have a ton of experience in
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overcoming right you don't you've never
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climbed to mount everest before you
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don't have the resources you don't know
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how to get up there you don't have the
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experience to rely on so there has to be
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somewhat
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an extreme level of delusion
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self-belief to even want to start doing
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something you've never done before and
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then when it comes to creating really
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innovative things you're bringing
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something into the world that even the
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world hasn't seen
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so that's where having a belief that
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this thing can exist and having that
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self-belief is also incredibly important
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this is just kind of the inception point
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of the business and when you go out into
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the world and you start telling people
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about your amazing business idea and how
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successful you think you're going to be
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and that you're going to be able to
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change the world in some type of way or
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solve a problem in a new way you're
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going to get tons of
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positive
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feedback from your friends maybe but
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also a ton of resistance whenever one of
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my friends starts a company
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and they ask me for one piece of advice
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i always say the same thing i say
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there's gonna become a day in your
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company where things are just
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awful where it's so
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unbelievably painful i've never seen it
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not happen so i can say would say it
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with such a high degree of conviction
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that it is going to happen to you
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so let's not argue about you know how we
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stop it happening because it will find
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you at some point let's start thinking
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now about what it takes to overcome that
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day it requires a ton of resilience it
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requires a ton of self-belief um it
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requires a certain temperament where
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someone defaults to logic and reason and
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not emotion because when emotion arrives
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in on that day then your decision-making
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will go down and you'll make really bad
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poor decisions that often exacerbate the
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problem but the first encounter of the
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35 packages of [ __ ] will build
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evidence that you can overcome and i
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think that will compound in your favor
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over time i think self-belief and
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resilience are probably the number one
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and number two character traits of
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anybody that wants to be wildly
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successful in business and then quite
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honestly
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everything else is outside of character
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traits i mean of course it matters to be
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really really nice of course it does
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that's that's a
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a factor that will increase your
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probability of success of course it
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matters to be you know have a great
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sense of humor but i think those two are
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at the very core of what it takes to be
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successful especially when you're a
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startup and then everything beyond that
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is quite often luck it's quite often
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outside of your control especially in
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industries like technology and when
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you're building products because the
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question then becomes okay i was
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resilient i had belief but does the
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market care and is their product market
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fit do people want to use my website my
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social network my app do they want to
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use my product that i've invented and
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that's somewhat outside of your
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control however what is in your control
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in that phase let's call this phase two
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of business
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is your humility and ego which will
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often show up
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stubbornly trying to prove that you were
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right and entrepreneurs like me
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in the past have been too romantic about
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our initial hypothesis about how we
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thought our product was going to be used
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how many people would we would use it
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the problem it would solve and you look
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at your product and you see clearly in
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the data that people are using in a
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different way they want a different
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thing
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that is outside of your original thesis
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your original hypothesis and some people
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at that moment they'll stubbornly try
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and push their original idea their
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hypothesis into existence let's increase
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the marketing let's educate the user
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base but really
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if you're humble enough and you're not
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attached to your ego you're attached to
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the outcome and success of the business
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you'll say let's pivot
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let's change what we thought was true
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to fit what we now know is true and
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that's where i think humility and and
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a little bit of experience because i
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think
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experience generates humility comes from
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you know when i sit here on the podcast
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i speak to people like
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tom from monzo and other founders of
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these massive companies that have
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disrupted industries one of the things
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they consistently say to me is
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i now know it was 10 times harder than i
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thought and we were like 10 times
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wrong in our initial hypothesis about
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how this business would play out than i
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originally realized throughout all of
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this as i've said multiple times in my
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podcast from day one to the day that you
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exit the business for a 500 billion
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dollars sales is everything sales is
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every single touch point and also
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especially as your business gets bigger
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and bigger and bigger it's incredibly
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important to be self-aware because
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there's going to be a million things
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that you're actually not that good at
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that need to be done within your
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business there's going to be a million
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things whether it's finances or you know
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typing into excel sheets or it's
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creative or it's whatever and so many
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entrepreneurs i know especially young
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inexperienced entrepreneurs that i know
00:11:03
fail late in the day their business
00:11:05
explodes at first and then plateaus and
00:11:07
then declines because they didn't
00:11:09
realize that they needed to put in place
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another ceo
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because for them the ego here of
00:11:14
replacing themselves and giving someone
00:11:17
that very prestigious very lauded title
00:11:20
wasn't worth it i can also think of the
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opposite i can think of companies like
00:11:24
jim shark like huell like tarla grace
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beverly's business where those founders
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have said you know what
00:11:30
there's someone better to run the
00:11:32
company it's super successful i'm going
00:11:34
to get out of its way and i'm going to
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spend all of my time doing something
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else that i'm uniquely positioned to do
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this is an incredible incredibly
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important skill and even in the
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companies that i found now i say to
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myself am i really capable of being the
00:11:45
ceo is that really where i should be
00:11:47
playing and in the two businesses that i
00:11:49
founded since leaving social chain i am
00:11:51
not the ceo because that is not what i'm
00:11:52
best at and i'm more attached to the
00:11:55
outcome
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and the success of that business than i
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am of having that title which might get
00:12:00
some brownie points from people that
00:12:01
don't really matter anyway
00:12:03
you know i hate i hate
00:12:05
powder i hate mixing powder with water i
00:12:08
hate protein powders that you have to
00:12:10
mix with water
00:12:11
up until now and um obviously he'll
00:12:14
sponsor this podcast so i'm tremendously
00:12:15
biased but that's a that's a true story
00:12:18
i've never been able to use the like my
00:12:19
protein powders that you mix with water
00:12:21
because i always think they taste
00:12:22
absolutely awful
00:12:23
up until hull released their brand new
00:12:25
protein flavor the amazing thing about
00:12:27
all of these proteins is there's 20
00:12:29
grams of protein you get all of your
00:12:30
vitamins and nutrients 26 of those and
00:12:34
as huel always is it's nutritionally
00:12:36
complete
00:12:37
and if you are someone that's trying to
00:12:39
go a little bit lower on the calories
00:12:40
it's only 105 calories so when i wake up
00:12:43
in the morning especially i've been
00:12:45
working out a lot lately come downstairs
00:12:47
quickly blend it together in my
00:12:48
nutribullet
00:12:49
drink it's 100 calories and then my next
00:12:51
sort of main meal because i'm a
00:12:53
breakfast skipper will be
00:12:54
at lunch time highly recommend it um and
00:12:57
i shouldn't say this because i don't
00:12:58
have any approval to say this but
00:13:01
there's some amazing amazing flavors
00:13:02
coming in the ready to drink range that
00:13:04
i've been lucky enough to try um
00:13:06
and
00:13:07
one of those is my new favorite flavour
00:13:09
so stay tuned
00:13:10
hey steven hop all as well so my
00:13:12
question is with regards imposter
00:13:14
syndrome have you any feedback regards
00:13:17
how to deal with that have you
00:13:18
experienced it yourself and just how to
00:13:20
go about like getting out of that
00:13:21
mindset and acknowledging that you
00:13:25
are potentially as good at your role as
00:13:27
what people think you are and you're not
00:13:29
bluffing it or fluking it and so on
00:13:31
thank you
00:13:32
so here's the thing i think we all feel
00:13:35
deep within us the same feeling any time
00:13:38
we're in a position that feels a little
00:13:40
bit outside of our comfort zone
00:13:41
sometimes that feels like a little bit
00:13:43
of nerves in your chest for example when
00:13:44
i go up on stage and i know there's 10
00:13:46
000 people behind the curtain of course
00:13:48
i feel that in my chest of course i have
00:13:50
that tingling that sensation that they
00:13:52
call butterflies however i don't
00:13:54
interpret it as being fear as being a
00:13:57
signal to escape or to avoid the
00:13:59
scenario my interpretation which has
00:14:01
grown over time and our interpretations
00:14:03
are influenced by our beliefs the
00:14:04
stories we tell ourselves based on the
00:14:06
evidence we have based on our
00:14:08
experiences and my evidence my
00:14:11
interpretation tells me that i'm ready
00:14:13
that this feeling is normal and i'm
00:14:15
supposed to feel this way people
00:14:17
sometimes because of their experiences
00:14:20
and the evidence that's created and the
00:14:21
stories that's made them believe about
00:14:23
themselves will tell themselves that
00:14:24
that feeling is fear that they should
00:14:26
run that they are ill-prepared that that
00:14:29
feeling is there because they aren't
00:14:30
competent enough to complete this task
00:14:32
so what i'm saying is we all get the
00:14:34
feeling but the story we tell ourselves
00:14:37
is ultimately what creates what some
00:14:38
people call imposter syndrome for me if
00:14:40
you look at my life i've kept myself one
00:14:42
step outside of my zone of comfort for
00:14:44
my entire life of course i've never been
00:14:46
a dragon on dragon's den no one in their
00:14:48
first year has been i'm looking to my
00:14:50
left and seeing peter jones who's been
00:14:51
there for 17 odd years and deborah meade
00:14:53
and to my right who's been there for 15.
00:14:55
i am new
00:14:56
however i'm supposed to spend my life in
00:15:00
situations where i am an imposter that
00:15:03
is the sign of growth if i'm ever
00:15:05
spending
00:15:06
too long in a room or situation where i
00:15:08
don't feel to some degree like an
00:15:10
imposter i am in the wrong room and if i
00:15:13
am to grow and growth is an incredibly
00:15:15
important part of being stimulated and
00:15:16
motivated and being fulfilled i have to
00:15:19
change rooms for me in my life i've
00:15:20
spent my entire life trying to escape my
00:15:22
zone of comfort and keeping myself one
00:15:25
foot outside of that zone of comfort
00:15:26
when you do that what you find is that
00:15:28
zone of comfort expands you take one
00:15:30
more step and it expands again every
00:15:32
person that's ever done anything for the
00:15:34
first time whether it's ed sheeran
00:15:35
singing to a group of people before or
00:15:38
barack obama doing one of his speeches
00:15:39
or usain bolt running in a track when
00:15:42
they first started they were
00:15:43
inexperienced and incapable so you
00:15:46
should expect and welcome that feeling
00:15:48
it's a feeling you're supposed to have
00:15:50
if you're somebody who wants to spend
00:15:52
your entire life growing and progressing
00:15:55
and learning which are all things
00:15:56
conducive with fulfillment you should
00:15:58
always feel like an imposter if you're
00:16:01
not i would assert that maybe
00:16:03
maybe you're playing it too safe maybe
00:16:05
you aren't challenging yourself enough
00:16:06
so for me what people call imposter
00:16:08
syndrome isn't evidence that you're in
00:16:10
the wrong situation one that you aren't
00:16:12
supposed to be in it's clear proof that
00:16:14
you're in the right one you're exactly
00:16:16
where you're supposed to be i'm i'm
00:16:19
supposed to spend my entire life doing
00:16:21
things that make me feel somewhat like
00:16:24
an imposter that is the answer to a
00:16:27
happy fulfilling progress full life
00:16:30
where i'm striving forward i'm trying
00:16:32
things i'm challenging myself and i'm
00:16:34
pursuing goals that are worthwhile we
00:16:36
should all feel impostor syndrome so if
00:16:38
you're not then it's time to challenge
00:16:40
yourself more
00:16:42
hi steve
00:16:43
my question to you is starting off in an
00:16:46
industry in my case healthcare and
00:16:48
medicine how do you approach someone at
00:16:50
more senior level and at level that you
00:16:51
want to be at
00:16:53
to ask them for mentorship or to be able
00:16:55
to help you along the journey that
00:16:56
they've been on
00:16:58
is there anything that you could say do
00:16:59
or offer them that would make them more
00:17:01
inclined in taking you on board
00:17:03
thank you so much the answers to these
00:17:05
these complex especially professional
00:17:07
questions as it relates to asking people
00:17:09
and progressing are always so simple yet
00:17:12
we complicate them and that would be my
00:17:14
answer genuinely it would be the person
00:17:16
you're speaking to put yourself in their
00:17:18
shoes how busy are they what are their
00:17:20
interests what do they want what could
00:17:22
you say to them to make them give you
00:17:25
something very precious to them which is
00:17:27
their time and like if you can't answer
00:17:29
that question
00:17:31
i i you know oh it makes me slightly
00:17:34
concerned because that's an inability to
00:17:36
put yourselves in the shoes
00:17:38
of
00:17:39
somebody else and that is life that is
00:17:40
sales that is every single day that is
00:17:42
empathy so say there's somebody at the
00:17:44
top of my organization and i want them
00:17:45
to mentor me or there's someone even
00:17:46
outside of my organization and i want
00:17:48
them to be my mentor the first thing i
00:17:50
do is i you know if it really helps you
00:17:53
actually pretend to be them write it
00:17:55
down on a piece of paper what their life
00:17:57
looks like let's just do steve barlet
00:17:58
you're asking steve butler to mentor you
00:18:01
so steve bartlett's day is he has an
00:18:04
unlimited things that people are asking
00:18:05
him to do he's getting thousands of dms
00:18:08
on social media they're all asking him
00:18:10
for stuff they're asking him for time to
00:18:12
go for a coffee to pick his brain to be
00:18:13
on his podcast to speak at their event
00:18:15
to do their show whatever it might be so
00:18:17
that's probably a really dumb place to
00:18:19
join the noise super saturated um
00:18:23
probably you know he's probably got a pa
00:18:24
defending those inboxes we're not gonna
00:18:26
[ __ ] try that that would be a stupid
00:18:28
thing to do let's find the least
00:18:29
saturated channel probably quite
00:18:31
honestly probably the post or probably
00:18:35
you know look at his channel hierarchy
00:18:36
probably twitter there's probably less
00:18:38
people there a channel where he's he's
00:18:40
um he's showing like he's responding
00:18:42
more but there's there's less people
00:18:44
competing there for his time so we might
00:18:46
go for the post or for twitter so let's
00:18:48
now pretend that you've got his
00:18:49
attention you've sent something in the
00:18:50
post you've written a tweet you've
00:18:52
written a twitter dm you've got his
00:18:53
attention once you have his attention
00:18:55
you need to convert it and to do that
00:18:57
you need to understand his psychological
00:18:58
incentives you have to know what i want
00:19:01
you have to solve a problem that i'm
00:19:03
looking for you have to appeal to my ego
00:19:06
you know steve oh my god i've listened
00:19:08
to every single podcast right
00:19:10
you have to understand the dynamics of
00:19:12
my life i know you have absolutely no
00:19:15
time
00:19:16
i am this person right and that's an
00:19:18
appeal you're making to maybe my empathy
00:19:20
to my care i am this person i'm 18 years
00:19:23
old one day i hope to you know build a
00:19:25
business like social chain because i've
00:19:27
listened to every single one of your
00:19:28
podcasts it would literally be my dream
00:19:30
if i could just stand in the background
00:19:32
of one episode one time i promise i
00:19:35
won't say a word it would literally
00:19:36
change my life right so what you've done
00:19:38
there is you've appreciated you're not
00:19:39
asking me for much you've hired you've
00:19:41
appreciated the fact that i'm busy by
00:19:43
saying i'm just gonna stand in the
00:19:44
background which means you're asking me
00:19:46
for zilch nothing and then you might end
00:19:48
up by saying and off the back of it
00:19:51
my friend works at this newspaper or
00:19:53
this magazine or has this blog i'm gonna
00:19:55
write a full transcript of my experience
00:19:58
this would be and then again you're
00:19:59
telling me that i'm gonna get something
00:20:00
in return right and then i look at it as
00:20:03
a proposition you've touched my ego
00:20:05
you've made me you know care through
00:20:06
empathy you've asked for nothing in
00:20:08
return of my time
00:20:10
and you've offered me a reward which is
00:20:12
you're going to put it somewhere you're
00:20:14
going to write it somewhere you're going
00:20:14
to help me by extending the reach for me
00:20:17
that's kind of the broad structure of a
00:20:19
perfect cold email asking for something
00:20:22
from someone that has no you know right
00:20:24
to give it to you is incredibly busy and
00:20:26
is being asked a lot the worst possible
00:20:28
case scenario let me give you the worst
00:20:29
possible case scenario hi steve
00:20:32
uh someone mentioned you the other day
00:20:34
which means that you don't know who i am
00:20:35
and you've not bothered to do your own
00:20:36
research um i want you to mentor me
00:20:40
uh let me know when to start and then
00:20:43
you've ended that with the let me know
00:20:45
when to start or whatever which is a
00:20:47
total presumption and sort of disrespect
00:20:49
and disregard of my time and my ability
00:20:51
to make that decision and then yeah and
00:20:53
also what you've done with that message
00:20:54
because it's so short and ill-conceived
00:20:56
you've proven to me that you're lazy and
00:20:58
that you're not creative and that you're
00:20:59
probably not someone that's going to
00:21:00
bring much value to my life and that's
00:21:02
genuinely how it works in my life i
00:21:04
swear to god i get dms from young people
00:21:07
they literally say
00:21:09
r letter r
00:21:11
space
00:21:12
there
00:21:13
any jobs go in
00:21:19
you've you've perfectly ruled yourself
00:21:20
out with that message of ever working
00:21:22
for me ever because you've told me that
00:21:24
you're both uncreative and lazy in only
00:21:26
a couple of words it's a remarkable
00:21:27
thing to achieve with such few amounts
00:21:29
of words you've told me you're lazy and
00:21:31
uncreative you will never work for
00:21:33
anything that i do in my entire life if
00:21:35
i ever see that message it shows that
00:21:38
you don't actually give a [ __ ] either
00:21:39
like you didn't even go on the website
00:21:41
to see if there were jobs going or you
00:21:43
didn't you know so
00:21:44
that's the that's the antithesis of
00:21:46
creativity attention to detail care and
00:21:50
ultimately success
00:21:51
and you know for some [ __ ] reason
00:21:53
people still do it
00:21:55
what are the three things that you would
00:21:57
look out for to know that you're on the
00:21:58
right path for success so the first
00:22:01
thing is definitely enjoyment if you're
00:22:03
not enjoying it especially an early
00:22:05
stage when it's going to be most
00:22:07
difficult then the chance of you being
00:22:09
successful is somewhere below one
00:22:11
percent
00:22:12
that is the single most important thing
00:22:14
are you enjoying it if the answer is no
00:22:17
then honestly you should quit
00:22:19
because it's only going to get more
00:22:21
difficult and the thing is we also tend
00:22:22
to shy away from things we're not
00:22:23
enjoying we tend to procrastinate away
00:22:26
from them because they create
00:22:27
psychological discomfort so if you're
00:22:29
not enjoying it you're probably also
00:22:30
going to do a pretty shitty job in it
00:22:32
it's hard to show up for something every
00:22:33
single day that you're not enjoying the
00:22:35
second thing is
00:22:36
at the very start of your business
00:22:38
there's not going to be a ton of
00:22:40
evidence that it's going well there's
00:22:42
probably not going to be a ton of
00:22:44
revenue probably not going to be a ton
00:22:45
of users
00:22:47
but there will be evidence of progress
00:22:50
evidence that you're getting better
00:22:51
evidence that you're making marginal
00:22:54
gains and for me and even with this
00:22:55
podcast i don't necessarily look for
00:22:58
results today or
00:23:00
more viewers or more downloads or more
00:23:02
revenue what i'm looking for is is this
00:23:04
thing getting one percent better week
00:23:06
over week because it only then takes 100
00:23:08
weeks for us to be 100 better and that
00:23:11
means we're moving in the right
00:23:12
direction and lastly i would say you're
00:23:15
looking for some kind of validation of
00:23:17
your hypothesis so in the context of
00:23:19
this podcast my validation would be am i
00:23:22
getting feedback from people and from
00:23:24
the data that they are enjoying the
00:23:26
format and the concept are they coming
00:23:28
back next week there might not be
00:23:30
thousands of people yet there might just
00:23:31
be 10 but are those 10 people inviting
00:23:33
one more and making my audience 11
00:23:35
people and there's always some evidence
00:23:38
even at the very very start of your
00:23:39
business especially if you've built it
00:23:41
in a lean way just to test your
00:23:42
hypothesis
00:23:44
that your hypothesis is being validated
00:23:46
that your product does have market fit
00:23:48
that people are enjoying the content
00:23:50
you're creating and that can act as a
00:23:52
tailwind to create it belief to create
00:23:56
enjoyment and motivation which will spur
00:23:59
you on to carry on going so to summarize
00:24:01
are you enjoying it are you making
00:24:03
marginal gains i.e progress and lastly
00:24:06
has your hypothesis
00:24:08
shown some evidence that it is correct
00:24:11
is there product market fit are people
00:24:13
enjoying what you're making are they
00:24:14
coming back again
00:24:16
hey steven and again um nice to uh hook
00:24:19
up with you um my question is um i've
00:24:22
been watching a lot of podcasts a lot of
00:24:24
motivation does help me a lot um i've
00:24:28
struggled over the years with anxiety
00:24:30
depression i've gone through a bit of
00:24:31
about a bit lately and just wondering
00:24:33
where you get your motivation from um
00:24:36
what makes you tick um and what makes
00:24:39
you get out of bed every day um
00:24:41
i'll get there i'm looking for other
00:24:43
avenues and uh you're inspiring me every
00:24:46
day and uh
00:24:48
just wanted to know really what
00:24:49
motivates you and drives you so it's
00:24:52
kind of ironic that within your question
00:24:54
lives the answer to your question you
00:24:56
said at the start of that that you
00:24:57
listen to this podcast it gives you
00:24:59
value and it's helped you
00:25:00
that's the reason why i get out of bed
00:25:02
in the morning purpose and so for me the
00:25:05
thing that drives me in any sort of
00:25:06
discipline or pursuit or ambition or
00:25:08
hobby that i have it's very very simple
00:25:10
and i've said this many times before it
00:25:12
has to be a worthwhile goal that's
00:25:15
challenging that i can pursue with
00:25:17
people i love and what you said
00:25:21
about how this podcast has helped you is
00:25:23
the reason it's worthwhile to me of
00:25:25
course it's challenging it takes tons of
00:25:28
my time the production takes a lot of
00:25:29
effort but it's a worthwhile challenge
00:25:31
so it's one worth pursuing and lastly i
00:25:34
get to do it with people that i actually
00:25:36
love and that's just a real fundamental
00:25:37
thing about human beings because you can
00:25:39
be pursuing a goal that means the world
00:25:40
to you a goal you love a goal that feels
00:25:42
incredibly worthwhile and meaningful but
00:25:45
if you're doing it with people that are
00:25:46
toxic in a toxic environment it then
00:25:49
becomes unworthwhile
00:25:51
it loses its enjoyment and the people
00:25:53
you're pursuing a goal with
00:25:55
are intrinsically attached to the
00:25:57
motivation to pursue it so the thing
00:25:59
that gets me out of bed and the the
00:26:01
prism in which i make my decisions
00:26:02
through in my life is is this a
00:26:04
worthwhile goal worthwhile is totally
00:26:07
subjective it's how it makes you feel
00:26:08
inside here is it a challenge because
00:26:10
the science says if something isn't
00:26:11
challenging you your motivation will
00:26:13
decline and are you doing it are you
00:26:15
pursuing it surrounded by people you
00:26:17
love
00:26:18
that'll make it a way more enjoyable way
00:26:20
more sustainable pursuit
00:26:23
thank you for all of your questions and
00:26:24
if you want to put a question to me the
00:26:26
details on how to do that are down below
00:26:28
in the description i hope you enjoyed
00:26:29
this new segment and i can't wait to
00:26:31
answer your question next week
00:26:33
[Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 60
    Most inspiring
  • 60
    Best performance

Episode Highlights

  • The Importance of Focus
    Steve emphasizes that focus is crucial for success in business, especially when starting out.
    “Focus is everything.”
    @ 01m 27s
    October 25, 2021
  • Self-Belief in Business
    Steve discusses the necessity of self-belief when launching a business, likening it to climbing Mount Everest.
    “Self-belief is believing that you can.”
    @ 06m 26s
    October 25, 2021
  • Understanding Imposter Syndrome
    Steve reframes imposter syndrome as a sign of growth, encouraging people to embrace it.
    “Imposter syndrome isn't evidence you're in the wrong situation.”
    @ 16m 14s
    October 25, 2021
  • The Importance of Empathy
    Understanding others' perspectives is crucial in life and sales.
    “That is life, that is sales, that is empathy.”
    @ 17m 40s
    October 25, 2021
  • Crafting the Perfect Cold Email
    To get someone's attention, understand their needs and appeal to their ego.
    “You've touched my ego, you've made me care through empathy.”
    @ 20m 05s
    October 25, 2021
  • Finding Motivation
    Purpose and worthwhile goals drive motivation and enjoyment in life.
    “The thing that gets me out of bed is a worthwhile goal.”
    @ 26m 01s
    October 25, 2021

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • Answering Questions00:17
  • Focus Matters01:27
  • Self-Belief06:26
  • Imposter Syndrome13:14
  • Empathy in Action17:40
  • Cold Email Strategy20:05
  • Motivation and Purpose26:01

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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