This Is How Elon Musk Learns So Fast, Your Brain Is Not Fixed — Transcript

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1. 0:00You do not need to be a genius to learn as fast as Elon Musk.
2. 0:03You can learn anything you want for free.
3. 0:05It is not a question of learning.
4. 0:07I think just kind of throwing yourself into different situations to learn new things, I think that's just a big part of life.
5. 0:14You don't need to be a genius in what I do.
6. 0:17The ability to master any new skill in record time is just a simple framework that anyone can copy.
7. 0:23First principles analysis I think is something that can be applied to really any walk of life, anything really.
8. 0:28It's really just saying let's boil something down to the most fundamental principles.
9. 0:34The things that we are most confident are true at a foundational level.
10. 0:38If you keep trying to memorize information the traditional way, you will fall so far behind your competitors that your business will fail.
11. 0:44I think a lot of things people learn, probably there's no point in learning them.
12. 0:47Colleges are basically for fun and to prove you can do your chores, but they're not for learning.
13. 0:51When Elon Musk decided to build a rocket, people laughed at him.
14. 0:54He did not have a degree in aerospace engineering.
15. 0:56He was a software guy, but he did not let that stop him.
16. 0:59In a Reddit Ask Me Anything, Elon revealed his secret.
17. 1:03He said most people can learn a lot more than they think they can.
18. 1:06He views knowledge as a tree.
19. 1:08He makes sure he understands the fundamental principles first.
20. 1:12He learns the trunk and big branches before he gets into the leaves and details.
21. 1:17He mastered rocket science by focusing on the core ideas first.
22. 1:21Now, you might be thinking that Elon Musk is a billionaire genius with a photographic memory and you are just a regular person trying to build a business.
23. 1:29You think this method only works if you already have a massive brain, but that is completely wrong.
24. 1:35The truth is that Elon uses this method to organize his brain because human memory is deeply flawed.
25. 1:40When you use this exact knowledge tree method, you level the playing field and unlock
26. 1:46your true potential.
27. 1:47So today I'm going to show you exactly how to build your own knowledge tree step by step.
28. 1:52If you've been here before, drop a hashtag Believe in the comments below and I can feature you here in a future video.
29. 1:57And if you're new, welcome to Believe Nation, the only channel that helps you believe in yourself daily, one video at a time.
30. 2:06Identify first principles.
31. 2:08You cannot learn fast if you are blinded by what other people are doing.
32. 2:11The biggest mistake you make when trying to learn a new business is copying your competitors.
33. 2:15This is called reasoning by analogy.
34. 2:18You look at what is already out there and you try to make a slightly better version.
35. 2:22This is a trap that keeps you slow and average.
36. 2:25Elon Musk does not reason by analogy.
37. 2:28He uses first principles thinking.
38. 2:30So when he wanted to send a rocket to Mars,
39. 2:32He found out that buying a rocket would cost $65 million.
40. 2:36Most people would just accept that price and give up.
41. 2:39Elon did not give up.
42. 2:41He broke the rocket down to its fundamental truths.
43. 2:43He looked at the raw materials of the rocket.
44. 2:46He found out that the aerospace-grade aluminum alloys, titanium, copper, and carbon fiber only cost 2% of the typical rocket price.
45. 2:53He learned how to build rockets by focusing only on the raw materials.
46. 2:57You must do the exact same thing in your business.
47. 2:59So when I was 19 years old, I walked away from a six-figure finance job.
48. 3:02I decided to join a software startup where I was making $300 a month.
49. 3:06I was struggling.
50. 3:07I was completely isolated and alone.
51. 3:09I did not know how to sell anything, let alone scientific software.
52. 3:12Instead of looking at my local competitors, I looked at the biggest success that I can find.
53. 3:16I studied Bill Gates.
54. 3:17I broke down his early strategies to their absolute core truth.
55. 3:21I applied his exact raw materials for success to build up my tiny company.
56. 3:25Because I stopped copying average people and broke the problem down to its first principles, I landed my first deal for $13,500.
57. 3:33So if you want to learn a new skill right now, stop looking at the surface level.
58. 3:36Write down the absolute facts of the problem.
59. 3:39Strip away the opinions, the assumptions, and the industry traditions.
60. 3:43Those are usually the worst.
61. 3:44Once you have the raw materials, you can then build a completely new and faster way to learn.
62. 3:48But identifying the raw materials is only the first step.
63. 3:51You still need a place to put them inside your brain.
64. 3:56Plant your semantic tree.
65. 3:58Most people try to memorize random facts, tips, tricks.
66. 4:01This is why you forget everything that you read.
67. 4:04Your brain is not a filing cabinet for random data.
68. 4:07Elon Musk explained his secret in that famous Reddit interview.
69. 4:11He said, you must view knowledge as a semantic tree.
70. 4:14You have to understand the trunk and the big branches first.
71. 4:17If you do not understand the trunk, the leaves and the tiny details have nothing to hang on to.
72. 4:22There is a proven scientific reason why this works.
73. 4:26It is called schema theory.
74. 4:28A schema is a mental slot in your long-term memory.
75. 4:30It acts like a cognitive shortcut.
76. 4:33So when you learn the core chunk of a subject, you create a permanent schema in your brain.
77. 4:38When you learn a new tiny detail later, your brain instantly knows exactly where to put it.
78. 4:42So think about this in real life.
79. 4:44So I'm a big salsa dancer, right?
80. 4:45I met my wife Nina at the salsa studio that I then later bought and now own.
81. 4:50But when I was first starting dancing, I was terrible.
82. 4:52I wanted to look cool immediately.
83. 4:54I wanted to learn the advanced spins, the dips, the crazy hand tricks.
84. 4:57But those moves are the leaves of the tree.
85. 4:59If you try to learn the leaves first, you'll fall flat on your face.
86. 5:02You have to learn the basic step first.
87. 5:05Forward and back, side to side.
88. 5:07That basic step is the trunk.
89. 5:09Once your brain understands the trunk, every single advanced spin becomes incredibly easy to learn.
90. 5:13So we can apply this to your business.
91. 5:15If you want to master marketing, do not start by learning the latest social media algorithm hacks.
92. 5:19Those are the leaves.
93. 5:20They will change next week anyway.
94. 5:22Learn human psychology.
95. 5:24Learn why people buy things.
96. 5:26Build your trunk first.
97. 5:27And once you have a strong trunk, you need a system that actually force that information into your daily schedule.
98. 5:33Also, if you want to take real action out of this video, I made a free worksheet just for you.
99. 5:36It covers the top lessons from today, gives you space to write your biggest takeaways, and helps you build a simple action plan.
100. 5:41It's 100% free.
101. 5:42Just check the link in the description below.
102. 5:44I'll see you there.
103. 5:47Chunk your time and knowledge.
104. 5:48You cannot learn this massive subject all at once.
105. 5:50Your work in memory, it has a strict limit.
106. 5:53In psychology, there is a famous concept called the magical number seven.
107. 5:58It proves that the human brain can only hold a few pieces of information at a time before it starts to get completely overwhelmed.
108. 6:06To get around this, you must use a process called chunking.
109. 6:09You break massive amounts of data into tiny bite-sized chunks.
110. 6:14Elon Musk uses chunking to manage his entire life.
111. 6:17He runs multiple billion dollar companies by breaking his day into tiny five minute blocks.
112. 6:22He focuses completely on one single problem for five minutes, solves it, moves on to the next chunk.
113. 6:27He uses techniques similar to the Pomodoro method to maintain his intense razor sharp focus.
114. 6:32And I use his exact same mental strategy when I'm playing games.
115. 6:35Play League of Legends or Minecraft.
116. 6:37I don't sit down and just try to win the entire game in one giant move.
117. 6:40I break the game down into tiny quests.
118. 6:42I focus on finding one resource.
119. 6:44I focus on winning my lane in trades.
120. 6:46You need to treat your learning the exact same way.
121. 6:48Do not sit down and say you're going to learn everything about sales today.
122. 6:51You will just get frustrated and quit.
123. 6:53Block off 20 minutes.
124. 6:54Focus on learning how to write one single cold email.
125. 6:57Master that one chunk.
126. 6:58Then move on to the next.
127. 7:00But even if you chunk your time perfectly, nothing matters if you refuse to take messy action.
128. 7:07force your brain to change.
129. 7:09You cannot train your brain just by reading books.
130. 7:12You have to actually perform the skill.
131. 7:15Your brain is a physical muscle.
132. 7:16It uses a biological process called neuroplasticity to adapt to new challenges.
133. 7:21Neuroplasticity means that your brain literally reorganizes itself and creates new neural pathways
134. 7:28based on your experiences.
135. 7:29To force these new pathways to grow, you have to put yourself in uncomfortable situations, new situations.
136. 7:34You have to expect to suck at the beginning.
137. 7:36When I decided to start my YouTube channel, I was a massive introvert.
138. 7:39I still am.
139. 7:40I was terrified of getting in front of the camera.
140. 7:42I did not know what I was doing.
141. 7:44My first videos were terrible.
142. 7:45But I didn't quit.
143. 7:46I forced my brain to adapt through just sheer volume and repetition.
144. 7:50It took me 350 videos before I could even watch my own content back without being completely embarrassed by myself when I was doing it.
145. 7:57It took me 700 videos before I finally watched a video and thought, oh my God, I'm starting to get good at this.
146. 8:02I built my entire business because I was willing to be bad at something long enough to let my brain learn how to be good at it.
147. 8:08You can see my whole YouTube journey.
148. 8:10Go back and watch all the videos on my channel.
149. 8:11They're all still there.
150. 8:12You can see all the mistakes that I made early on.
151. 8:14And you can do the exact same thing.
152. 8:16If you want to learn a skill like Elon Musk, you have to embrace the pain of being a beginner.
153. 8:20Your purpose comes from your pain.
154. 8:22The struggle you feel when you are learning something new is just your brain physically upgrading itself.
155. 8:29So stop waiting for the perfect time.
156. 8:31Stop researching.
157. 8:32Start doing the actual work.
158. 8:34Trust that great ideas flow through you and take the first step because you have the raw materials.
159. 8:38You have the semantic tree.
160. 8:40You have the focus to master anything.
161. 8:42Now you just need to believe.
162. 8:46your next step to greatness.
163. 8:48Everything you want out of life is possible if you just believe in it more.
164. 8:52You are entirely capable of mastering any skill you need to build your dream business.
165. 8:56Do not let fear or slow learning stop you from serving the world.
166. 9:00Take your new knowledge tree and go make something happen today.
167. 9:04And congratulations, you're one video closer to who you're meant to be.
168. 9:08Believe.
169. 9:09Now let's learn what 50 billionaires all have in common.
170. 9:13You will never become a billionaire or even a millionaire by following the advice of the middle class.
171. 9:17Most people think that extreme wealth comes from luck or inheritance or being in the right place at the right time.
172. 9:23But the truth is it comes from having the guts to concentrate your bets when
173. 9:28Everyone else is diversifying to protect their ignorance.
174. 9:32If you keep spreading your focus, your energy, and your money across a dozen different safe options because you are afraid of losing, you will guarantee that you end up with a life of mediocrity and never reach the massive potential that you were built for.
175. 9:45In 2008, Elon Musk was facing the worst year of his life.
176. 9:48He had made $180 million from selling PayPal, a fortune that would set most people up for life on a private island.
177. 9:56But Musk isn't most people.
178. 9:57He had poured almost all of that money into two companies that looked like they were about to die, Tesla and SpaceX.
179. 10:04SpaceX had three failed rocket launches in a row.
180. 10:07Tesla was running out of cash and couldn't make payroll.
181. 10:09Musk had about $40 million left.
182. 10:11He had a choice.
183. 10:12He could put all the money into one company to save it, but that would mean the other would definitely die.
184. 10:17Or he could split the money between them to try to keep both alive, but risk running out of cash for both and losing absolutely everything.
185. 10:26Most people would have walked away.
186. 10:27They would have kept the $40 million and lived like a king.
187. 10:31Musk chose the hardest path.
188. 10:33He split the money.
189. 10:34He went all in on both.
190. 10:36He literally had to borrow money from friends to pay his rent because he had zero liquid cash left.
191. 10:41On Christmas Eve 2008, at the very last hour, a financing round came through for Tesla.
192. 10:46Days later, NASA awarded SpaceX a contract.
193. 10:48He risked $180 million to get to zero just to have a shot at changing the world.
194. 10:54Today, he's the richest man on
195. 10:57So right now you're probably telling yourself, but Evan, I don't have $180 million like Elon Musk.
196. 11:02And that's not the point.
197. 11:03It's not about the amount of money.
198. 11:05It's about the habit of your mind.
199. 11:07You're playing small with the $1,000 the same way you'd play small with $10 million.
200. 11:11If you cannot bet on yourself when you have nothing to lose, you will never bet on yourself when you have everything to lose.
201. 11:19So today we're gonna break down the actual blueprint.
202. 11:21I analyze 50 billionaires to find out what they actually have in common, and it's not what you think.
203. 11:30The trap of diversification.
204. 11:32The first thing you need to understand is that billionaires do not get rich by diversifying.
205. 11:36You have been told your whole life, don't put all your eggs in one basket.
206. 11:40That is great advice if your goal is to preserve wealth.
207. 11:43It's terrible advice if your goal is to create wealth and build an empire.
208. 11:47Warren Buffett, one of the greatest investors of all time, calls diversification protection against ignorance.
209. 11:53He says it makes very little sense for anyone who knows what they are doing.
210. 11:57If you know how to analyze a business, if you know your market, if you know your value, why would you put your money into your 20th best idea instead of your top idea?
211. 12:06When you look at the portfolios of the ultra wealthy, you see extreme concentration.
212. 12:11They find one thing they believe in, usually a company they built themselves or an investment they know inside and out, and they push all their chips into the middle of the table.
213. 12:20Bill Gates didn't diversify
214. 12:22in real estate and gold when he was starting Microsoft.
215. 12:24He was 100% Microsoft.
216. 12:26Jeff Bezos wasn't buying stocks in other retailers in 1999.
217. 12:29He was 100% Amazon.
218. 12:31And the data backs us up.
219. 12:32There's a study by Acadian Asset Management that looked at concentrated portfolio managers versus diversified ones.
220. 12:37They found that the managers who had the courage to bet big on their best ideas, their top five to 10 stocks, significantly outperformed the ones who spread their bets thin.
221. 12:46The managers who concentrated their portfolios generated higher returns because they were betting on their conviction
222. 12:52not their fear.
223. 12:53You are hurting your own growth by trying to do too many things at once.
224. 12:57You have a side hustle and a main job and you're thinking about crypto and you're trying to start a YouTube channel and you're learning Spanish.
225. 13:04You are diversifying your energy because you are afraid that if you pick just one thing, it might fail.
226. 13:11But by doing five things at 20% effort, you are guaranteeing that all five of them fail.
227. 13:17you need to find your wonderful business.
228. 13:20Buffett says, if you can find just three wonderful businesses in your life, you will get very rich.
229. 13:25You don't need 50, you need one.
230. 13:28You need to become an expert in one area.
231. 13:30You need to know more about your specific niche than anyone else in the room.
232. 13:34When you have that level of knowledge, you don't need to diversify to protect yourself.
233. 13:39Your knowledge is your protection.
234. 13:41So stop trying to be okay at everything and give yourself permission to be a genius at one thing.
235. 13:45Put your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket very closely like Andrew Carnegie used to say.
236. 13:54The power of disagreeableness.
237. 13:56If you want to be a billionaire, you have to stop caring what other people think.
238. 14:00I don't mean you should be a jerk.
239. 14:02I mean, you must possess a psychological trait known as low agreeableness.
240. 14:07Researchers from the sociology
241. 14:09economic panel in Germany analyzed the personality traits of millionaires and billionaires.
242. 14:14They used the big five personality model.
243. 14:17They found a consistent pattern.
244. 14:19Wealthy people score very high on conscientiousness.
245. 14:22They are disciplined and they're organized.
246. 14:24They score high in openness.
247. 14:26They like new ideas, but they score significantly lower than the average person on agreeableness.
248. 14:32This means they are not afraid of conflict.
249. 14:34They are not afraid to swim against the tide.
250. 14:36They do not need social harmony to feel good about themselves.
251. 14:40When you are building something massive, people are going to tell you that you are crazy.
252. 14:45They are going to tell you that it cannot be done.
253. 14:48They are going to tell you that you are wrong.
254. 14:51If you have high agreeableness, you will listen to them.
255. 14:54You will try to fit in.
256. 14:55You will compromise your vision to make everyone feel comfortable.
257. 14:59Billionaires don't do that.
258. 15:01They are nonconformists.
259. 15:03Look at Steve Jobs.
260. 15:04He was famous for his reality distortion field.
261. 15:07He would demand things that his engineers said were impossible.
262. 15:11He wasn't trying to be their friend.
263. 15:13He wasn't trying to be agreeable.
264. 15:15He was trying to change the world.
265. 15:17He didn't care if people thought that he was difficult.
266. 15:19He cared about the vision.
267. 15:21You have to be willing to be misunderstood.
268. 15:24You have to fight for your idea when no one else sees it.
269. 15:26You have to be the one who says yes when the whole world says no.
270. 15:30This is why so many billionaires are entrepreneurs.
271. 15:32You cannot climb the corporate ladder if you are highly disagreeable.
272. 15:36The corporate world rewards people who follow the rules and play nice.
273. 15:39The entrepreneurial world rewards people who break the rules and create new realities.
274. 15:44So you can ask yourself today,
275. 15:46Where are you compromising your dream just to avoid an awkward conversation?
276. 15:51Where are you saying okay when you want to scream no?
277. 15:55Stop trying to please everyone.
278. 15:57You are not pizza.
279. 15:58You are a leader.
280. 16:00Lead.
281. 16:03The obsession with speed.
282. 16:05Speed is the ultimate weapon.
283. 16:06If you look at the daily habits of billionaires, they do not waste time.
284. 16:10They understand that time is the only asset that they can never buy back.
285. 16:14There is a concept called return on time investment or ROTI.
286. 16:18Billionaires are obsessed with this.
287. 16:20They aggressively use leverage, other people's money, other people's times, systems and technology to make sure that their personal time is spent only on the highest value tasks.
288. 16:30When I analyze successful people on my channel, I see this pattern over and over.
289. 16:34They don't just work hard.
290. 16:36They work fast.
291. 16:37Tom Bilyeu, friend of the channel, has a strict routine.
292. 16:39He gets up.
293. 16:40He works out to build discipline.
294. 16:42He meditates to clear his mind.
295. 16:43And then he attacks his most important task immediately.
296. 16:47He doesn't check email first.
297. 16:48He doesn't scroll social media.
298. 16:50He calls it thinkitating, using his brain power to solve complex problems before the world can distract him.
299. 16:57Most people are moving too slow.
300. 16:58You have an idea for a business.
301. 16:59You spend six months researching a logo.
302. 17:02You want to start a podcast and you spend three weeks looking for the perfect microphone to buy, right?
303. 17:07You're using preparation as an excuse to hide.
304. 17:11If you wait until you feel ready, you will be waiting for the rest of your life.
305. 17:15Billionaires act on information immediately.
306. 17:17When Elon Musk faced that crisis in 2008, he didn't take a month off to think about it.
307. 17:22He was on the phone flying around the world, negotiating deals, moving money, literally working 20 hours a day to save his companies.
308. 17:30The speed of his decisions saved him.
309. 17:32You need to shorten the gap between the idea and the execution.
310. 17:36If you
311. 17:36have an idea right now do something about it in the next 10 minutes send the email by the domain post a video call the client stop overthinking your brain is designed to keep you safe not to make you rich safety is slow wealth is fast the billionaire mindset is about shrinking timelines if you think a goal will take you 10 years ask yourself how can i achieve this in six months even if you fail you will be further ahead than if you stuck to the 10-year plan
312. 18:04So a lot of you are waiting for permission.
313. 18:05You're waiting for someone to tell you that you are good enough.
314. 18:08You're waiting for the perfect time.
315. 18:10There is no perfect time.
316. 18:12The perfect time was yesterday.
317. 18:13The second best time is right now.
318. 18:18The ability to handle crisis.
319. 18:19You will never reach the top without facing a moment that threatens to destroy everything that you have built.
320. 18:24This is the existential crisis phase.
321. 18:26Every single billionaire that I've studied has gone through a moment where it looked like it was all over.
322. 18:31We talked about Elon Musk in 2008, but look at Jeff Bezos.
323. 18:33In a dot-com crash of 2001, Amazon lost 90% of its value, 90%.
324. 18:39Imagine looking at your net worth and seeing it drop by 90%.
325. 18:42Most CEOs panicked.
326. 18:43They folded.
327. 18:44They went bankrupt.
328. 18:45Bezos didn't panic.
329. 18:47He focused on the math.
330. 18:48He focused on one single metric, the cash conversion cycle.
331. 18:52He realized that if he could get cash from customers before he had to pay his suppliers, he could fund his own growth without needing banks or investors.
332. 19:00He turned Amazon into a cash generating machine during the worst crash in the history of the internet.
333. 19:07He didn't just survive the crisis.
334. 19:08He used the crisis to become stronger.
335. 19:11This is what Nassim Taleb calls being anti-fragile.
336. 19:14It's not just about resilience, which is bouncing back to where you were.
337. 19:17It's about getting better because of the stress.
338. 19:19When you are building your business, you are going to get hit.
339. 19:22You are going to lose a big client.
340. 19:24Your star employee is going to quit on you.
341. 19:26The economy is going to tank.
342. 19:28Pandemic is going to shut down the world.
343. 19:30If you crumble when things get hard, you are not ready for this level of success.
344. 19:35Yet, billionaires look at crisis as a puzzle to be solved, not a sign that they need to stop.
345. 19:41They maintain an internal locus of control.
346. 19:43They believe that no matter how bad the external situation is, they have the power to fix it.
347. 19:48They don't blame the economy.
348. 19:50They don't blame the government.
349. 19:51They don't blame their team.
350. 19:53They take extreme ownership.
351. 19:55So when bad things happen to you, do you play the victim or do you become the architect of your own rescue?
352. 20:00Your pain is your training ground.
353. 20:03The struggles that you're facing right now are not there to stop you.
354. 20:07They are there to prepare you for the weight of the success you are asking for.
355. 20:11If you can't handle the pressure of a $10,000 problem, life will never trust you with a $10 million problem.
356. 20:17So embrace the crisis.
357. 20:19It is the fire that forges the steel.
358. 20:24They solve the biggest problems.
359. 20:26Perhaps the most important thing billionaires have in common is the scale of the problems that they solve.
360. 20:31So you are paid in direct proportion to the difficulty of the problems that you solve.
361. 20:36If you solve a small problem for a few people, you make a little bit of money.
362. 20:40If you solve a massive problem for millions of people, you become a billionaire.
363. 20:44So look at the billionaires that we've talked about.
364. 20:45Elon Musk is trying to solve the problem of fossil fuels with Tesla and the problem of human extinction with SpaceX.
365. 20:52Pretty big problems.
366. 20:53Bill Gates solved the problem of putting a computer on every desk in every home.
367. 20:57Jeff Bezos solved the problem of getting anything that you want delivered to your door in two days.
368. 21:03These are not small problems.
369. 21:05Most entrepreneurs aim too low.
370. 21:07They start a business just to make money.
371. 21:08They want to just pay their bills.
372. 21:10They want a nice car.
373. 21:11And there's nothing wrong with that, but it won't make you a billionaire.
374. 21:14You have to fall in love with the problem.
375. 21:16And to go to the next level, you have to expand your vision.
376. 21:18You have to ask, how can I help more people?
377. 21:21How can I serve deeper?
378. 21:22You need to find your one word.
379. 21:23You need to find the core value that drives you because when things get hard and they will get hard, money will not be enough motivation to keep you going.
380. 21:31You need a mission.
381. 21:32If you're just chasing paper, you will burn out.
382. 21:34If you're chasing a purpose, you will be unstoppable.
383. 21:37So the billionaires I know, the ones I studied, they're not sitting around counting their money.
384. 21:42They are working harder than you and me.
385. 21:44Why?
386. 21:44Because they're obsessed with the problem they are solving.
387. 21:47They are built to serve.
388. 21:48So if you want to join their ranks, stop asking, how can I make a billion dollars?
389. 21:52And start asking, how can I help a billion people?
390. 21:55The money is just a byproduct of the value that you create.
391. 21:58Focus on the value.
392. 22:00Focus on the service.
393. 22:01Focus on the impact.
394. 22:03You have Michael Jordan level talent at something.
395. 22:05You have a genius inside of you that is waiting to be unlocked, but you are keeping it small because you don't believe in yourself enough to tackle the big problems.
396. 22:14The world is waiting for you to step up.
397. 22:17The world has huge problems that need your specific genius to solve.
398. 22:21So don't deprive us of your contribution because you're afraid to fail.
399. 22:25Go bigger.
400. 22:26Now let's learn what to do when you're smart, but not yet successful.
401. 22:30Your intelligence is the reason you're not successful.
402. 22:33Being smart might actually be holding you back.
403. 22:35Every day I see brilliant people with sky-high IQs lose to others with half their talent.
404. 22:41Why?
405. 22:41Because intelligence alone doesn't automatically translate to results.
406. 22:45If you keep letting your smarts run the show, you'll watch those average people, the ones who show up consistently and push through leapfrog right over you.
407. 22:55And the worst part?
408. 22:56The world misses out on your genius.
409. 22:58The woman who should have cured cancer might be stuck in a dead end job because she didn't believe in herself or take action.
410. 23:04Think of the tortoise and the hare, the fast, cocky hare, the smart one took a nap thinking he had the race won.
411. 23:11The slow but steady tortoise kept going and crossed the finish line first.
412. 23:15In real life, too many smart people act like the hare, so confident in their brainpower that they get complacent or overcomplicate
413. 23:23everything while the less assuming tortoises quietly grind out the win.
414. 23:28Being the hare might feel good at first, but it doesn't win races.
415. 23:32I learned that the hard way in my early 20s.
416. 23:34I had a shot at a life changing deal selling my first company for millions of dollars.
417. 23:39I was trying to be the smart kid with a detailed plan and I over planned everything.
418. 23:43I spent months crafting the perfect business plan instead of actually doing something.
419. 23:48And guess what happened?
420. 23:49A big company came looking to buy businesses like mine, but we weren't ready to move.
421. 23:54It came down to my company and our biggest competitor, and we lost.
422. 23:57And that competitor of ours got bought for $40 million while I was still polishing my plan.
423. 24:02$40 million!
424. 24:03That stung.
425. 24:04I could have sold my business for $40 million, but I missed my shot because I was being too perfect.
426. 24:09That failure
427. 24:10woke me up.
428. 24:11I realized my smart plan was really just fear in disguise, fear of making a mistake, fear of it not being perfect.
429. 24:17Perfectionism is really just fear.
430. 24:19We call it diligence, but really you're just scared.
431. 24:23I decided to become a recovering perfectionist after that.
432. 24:26Now, when I get a great idea, I force myself to act on it immediately before my brain can come up with 20 reasons to wait.
433. 24:34I learned that a half-assed plan that you actually execute is better than a perfect plan that stays in your head.
434. 24:40Now, at this point, you might be thinking, Evan,
435. 24:42Are you saying I should stop being smart?
436. 24:44Am I supposed to dumb it down to succeed?
437. 24:46No, I'm not saying abandon your brain or act recklessly.
438. 24:49I'm saying you have to change how you use your intelligence.
439. 24:52Right now, your smarts are running the show and running you into a wall.
440. 24:55You probably pride yourself on being the smartest person in the room, but is that working out for you?
441. 24:59If you're so smart, why aren't you where you wanna be?
442. 25:02The truth is raw intelligence without execution gets you nowhere.
443. 25:06You have to get out of your head and into action.
444. 25:09Being smart is a gift, but if you don't pair that gift with courage, with discipline, with hustle, it will absolutely hold you back.
445. 25:15Don't let your ego or fear of not looking smart keep you from growing.
446. 25:20The only thing worse than being seen as not smart is being full of potential and never actually achieving anything.
447. 25:25So yes, keep your intelligence, but put it to work for you, not against you.
448. 25:30So let's talk about how to fix this.
449. 25:31Let's turn your intelligence into an asset instead of a liability.
450. 25:34Here we go.
451. 25:38Why smart people struggle with success and how to turn it around.
452. 25:42Number one, you overthink everything.
453. 25:43Smart people can get stuck in analysis paralysis.
454. 25:46Your brain sees 20 angles to every problem.
455. 25:49You can imagine every possible outcome and all that analysis leaves you spinning in circles.
456. 25:54Sound familiar?
457. 25:55You plan and you plan and you plan and nothing actually happens.
458. 25:59Meanwhile, someone with half your brain power just picks a direction and goes.
459. 26:04They get results while you're still in your head.
460. 26:07Here's the deal, thinking about doing something and actually doing it are completely different things.
461. 26:12No matter how brilliant your idea is, you must act on it.
462. 26:16Studies in cognitive psychology even show that excessive deliberation can lead to worse decisions because you start second guessing yourself and over complicating simple choices.
463. 26:27So what's the solution?
464. 26:29Decide and go.
465. 26:30Give yourself a deadline to make a decision and then execute.
466. 26:33Trust your intuition and start moving.
467. 26:35You can adjust course as you go.
468. 26:38Remember, real progress happens in the real world, not in your head.
469. 26:42Don't let overthinking murder your momentum.
470. 26:45Number two, you're chasing perfect and it's slowing you down.
471. 26:48This was my curse.
472. 26:49In school, you might've been the kid who got A's, who set super high standards.
473. 26:54In life and business, those high standards can actually cripple you.
474. 26:57You rewrite the opening chapter seven times and never publish the book.
475. 27:01You tinker with your product endlessly because it's not good enough yet to launch.
476. 27:06Guess what?
477. 27:07Perfect is the enemy of progress.
478. 27:09Successful people execute and then iterate.
479. 27:12Unsuccessful smart people keep polishing a draft that never sees the light of day.
480. 27:17Here's how one entrepreneur put it.
481. 27:18You can't refine what doesn't exist.
482. 27:21You can't improve a product that never launched.
483. 27:23Average performers often beat perfectionists because they're willing to put out good enough and then improve later.
484. 27:31My own $40 million mistake was due to perfectionism.
485. 27:33I waited and wanted the perfect plan and I was too late.
486. 27:37Learn from my mistake, launch messy, embrace mistakes.
487. 27:40Done is better than perfect.
488. 27:41And remember that urge to be perfect?
489. 27:43It's really fear.
490. 27:45Perfectionism is fear in a tuxedo.
491. 27:47It looks respectable, even admirable, but it's killing your success.
492. 27:51So punch fear in the face by putting out your work, flaws and all.
493. 27:55Progress beats perfection every time.
494. 27:57Number three, you rely on talent instead of work.
495. 28:00This one stings, but I've seen it so often.
496. 28:01Things come easy for you, right?
497. 28:03School, jobs, picking up new skills.
498. 28:04You're used to being the best with minimal effort.
499. 28:06Meanwhile, others had to grind to get good.
500. 28:09And the result is you never develop the discipline and habits that success actually requires.
501. 28:13Maybe you breeze through school without studying.
502. 28:16So you never learn how to truly study or struggle.
503. 28:19You prided yourself on pulling off last minute miracles or acing presentations with no prep.
504. 28:25And it worked.
505. 28:26Until now.
506. 28:27So when you finally hit something hard, something that doesn't come instantly, you stall or quit because you don't have the tools or grit to push through.
507. 28:34Psychology research backs this up.
508. 28:36People who think intelligence is fixed tend to avoid challenges that might prove them wrong.
509. 28:41But those who believe abilities grow with effort are the ones who persist when things get tough.
510. 28:47So natural talent might open the door, but discipline, resilience, and grind get you to the finish line.
511. 28:52If you've coasted on talent, it's time to be humble and get to work.
512. 28:55Being smart is not an excuse to be lazy.
513. 28:57Embrace the beginner's mindset.
514. 28:59Push yourself to do the uncomfortable drills, the boring repetitions, the late night study sessions.
515. 29:04Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard every single time.
516. 29:08Number four, you get bored and lose focus.
517. 29:11So let's get real, highly intelligent people
518. 29:13Get bored easily.
519. 29:14Your brain craves novelty and big ideas.
520. 29:17Once you figure something out, doing the actual work feels tedious.
521. 29:21You love planning the project, but hate the day-to-day grind of executing it.
522. 29:25And I get it, but here's the reality.
523. 29:27Most success is built
524. 29:28in the boring middle.
525. 29:30The book that you want to write, 5% is the exciting idea and 95% is sitting down day after day, banging out words or editing.
526. 29:38And that business you want to build, the concept is thrilling, but actually building it involves a thousand tedious tasks, paperwork and emails and routines, not exactly fun or intellectually stimulating.
527. 29:49The smartest people often struggle here.
528. 29:51Isn't this work beneath me?
529. 29:53No, this work makes you.
530. 29:54Consistency is the secret weapon of the average.
531. 29:58Those who succeed are willing to do the uninspiring stuff consistently without constantly questioning.
532. 30:05Is this worth my genius?
533. 30:07If boredom is killing your momentum, fix it by reframing the boring stuff as a challenge.
534. 30:11Can you show up and execute even when it's not exciting?
535. 30:15That's your new game.
536. 30:16Also, systemize your life.
537. 30:17Build routines and accountability that keep you moving forward even when you're not feeling it.
538. 30:23The ability to do boring things consistently is incredibly valuable.
539. 30:27Master it and you'll leave the dabbling geniuses in the dust.
540. 30:31Number five, you live in theory, not reality.
541. 30:34Smart people often fall in love with theories and big picture ideas.
542. 30:37You might design elegant strategies in your head, craft perfect models of how things should work.
543. 30:42but then here's how things do work in real life, which is usually much messier.
544. 30:46If you're too attached to the ideal scenario, you can become disconnected from actual reality.
545. 30:51So for example, you might refuse to launch a product until you understand every aspect perfectly, or you insist on a plan going exactly as imagined, and when it doesn't, you freeze.
546. 31:02Meanwhile, less brilliant people are adapting on the fly and they're getting results.
547. 31:07So what's the fix?
548. 31:08Embrace reality and adjust.
549. 31:09Don't let your beautiful theory stop you from getting your hands dirty.
550. 31:13Maybe your strategy should be tweaked.
551. 31:15That's fine.
552. 31:15Maybe your hypothesis was wrong.
553. 31:17Learn and you pivot.
554. 31:19Actionable data comes from the real world, not the daydreams.
555. 31:23So don't wait for conditions to match your mental model.
556. 31:27Get out there, try stuff, and adjust to the feedback.
557. 31:30Remember, your ability to learn and adapt beats your ability to pontificate.
558. 31:35Stay grounded and stay flexible.
559. 31:37Number six, you undervalue emotional intelligence and help from others.
560. 31:41Success is not a solo brain game.
561. 31:42It's a team sport.
562. 31:43If you're brilliant but can't work with other people, you're going to hit a ceiling fast.
563. 31:48Maybe you've told yourself, others just slow me down.
564. 31:50Or no one can do it as well as I can, right?
565. 31:52Classic smart person trap.
566. 31:54The truth is, someone with average IQ but great people skills will outrun a genius who alienates others.
567. 32:01Businesses, careers, life, they all run on relationships.
568. 32:05If you struggle to communicate, to collaborate, or to ask for help, that's a major blind spot.
569. 32:10And I used to try everything alone and not admit weakness.
570. 32:14It nearly broke me.
571. 32:15I was too embarrassed to tell anyone that I was struggling.
572. 32:18And that loneliness almost made me quit.
573. 32:20I learned that if you don't ask for help, you end up stuck and isolated and far more likely to fail.
574. 32:25So don't let the pride or social awkwardness sabotage you.
575. 32:29You don't have to be an extrovert or the life of a party.
576. 32:31I'm not.
577. 32:32Just develop the skills to connect and communicate.
578. 32:34Listen more.
579. 32:35Be curious about others.
580. 32:36Find mentors and accept their advice.
581. 32:39If you lack some of the soft skills, learn it.
582. 32:41Being smart means you can grow here too.
583. 32:43Remember, being right isn't enough.
584. 32:45You have to bring others along if you want to do something big.
585. 32:49And if you have a big dream, you'll definitely need others.
586. 32:51So start valuing emotional intelligence as much as book intelligence.
587. 32:55It's not soft.
588. 32:56It's the glue that holds your success together.
589. 32:59Okay, now let's bring this home.
590. 33:00We've identified the traps, over-analysis, perfectionism, coasting on talent, lacking a follow-through, living in theory and flying solo.
591. 33:09These are natural tendencies of a powerful mind, but if you leave them unchecked, they become big barriers.
592. 33:14The great news is you can overcome each one.
593. 33:16Self-awareness is step one.
594. 33:18If you've nodded along or winced at any of these points, you're already learning where to improve.
595. 33:23Step two is to work with your tendencies instead of against them.
596. 33:26Build systems and habits to counteract your weak spots.
597. 33:29For example, if you know that you overthink,
598. 33:32Set strict deadlines or accountability partners to force action even when you're in your head.
599. 33:38If you're a perfectionist, set good enough goals.
600. 33:41Deliberately release version 1.0 of a project when it's 80% there.
601. 33:45Just to prove to yourself the world doesn't end if it's not perfect.
602. 33:49If you get bored, gamify the process or tie boring tasks to a deeper mission that actually fires you up.
603. 33:55Practice doing things before you feel fully ready for them.
604. 33:59This starts to train you to gather real world feedback.
605. 34:02And if going it alone is not working for you, find a coach, a community, a partner who can push you and keep you accountable.
606. 34:09And most of all, shift your identity.
607. 34:11Don't see yourself as the smart one.
608. 34:13See yourself as the bold one.
609. 34:14the action taker, the lifelong learner, the resilient fighter.
610. 34:18Yes, you're smart.
611. 34:19So use that brain to strategize ways to get out of your comfort zone instead of clever excuses to stay in it.
612. 34:26My mom used to tell me, if you have the ability, you have the responsibility.
613. 34:30If you can, then you must.
614. 34:31And that...
615. 34:32Hit me hard and stays with me.
616. 34:34Your intelligence is a gift, not just for acing tests or impressing people, but for making an impact.
617. 34:39If you're capable of more, you owe it to yourself and the world to do more.
618. 34:43I know there's genius inside of you.
619. 34:45Everybody has what I call Michael Jordan level talent or genius at something.
620. 34:49Don't let it go to waste because of fear, laziness, or ego.
621. 34:53Break the patterns.
622. 34:54Do the uncomfortable work.
623. 34:55The world needs what you have and you deserve to fulfill the measure of your potential.
624. 35:00Did Elon Musk really sleep on the floors of YMCAs?
625. 35:03Check the video right there next to me.
626. 35:04I think you'll love it.
627. 35:05Continue to believe and I'll see you there.
628. 35:08You know Elon Musk today as the billionaire innovator sending rockets to Mars and building electric cars.
629. 35:12But rewind a few decades and picture a young Elon with barely a dollar to his name crashing on an office couch and showering at the YMCA.