I am the best

1. The best is the enemy of the good

To be better means to be better than others, superior to them and different from them. You can't do the same thing as everyone else to become the best. You need your own path. You can't be the best at everything: while you study everything, someone specializes in one thing. The best way to become the best is to choose one very narrow specialty and become a world-class specialist in it. If you study ballet from the age of five for eight hours a day, there will always be someone who studies from the age of three for ten hours. By age fifteen, his experience will exceed yours by 5,000 hours. But there are also geniuses, for every hour of which you need to study three. And the best teachers in the world, and you, for example, are self-taught. The only way to become the best without having a unique path is to work harder than everyone else, be talented, have good teachers and rich parents. Although, this is not quite “like everyone else”, right? But even the fastest and most hardworking horse in the world cannot outrun a car. You need your own strategy, your own unique plan to become the best without sacrificing everything.

2. It doesn’t take long to become the best

There will always be someone who started before you. Some have rich parents, others studied at the best university in the world. Some parents took them to work. It's OK. Happens. This is called different starting conditions. But such people are a minority. The world is full of people who have become successful themselves thanks to their innovative thinking, hard work and ability to constantly learn new things. Life is like playing cards. Anyone will win if he is dealt only trump cards, but a professional wins regardless of the cards dealt. He minimizes their influence with his skill. Nobody understands this better than professional athletes. Many of them have only a few years to realize their chance and achieve success.

3. There is always someone who is willing to work harder than you

There are many such people. Among them are workaholics, perfectionists and people who are simply in love with their work. Yes, many of them sacrifice family, friends, and are willing to work 80 hours a week. Work is their life. This is not the path for us. But they are perfectly capable of pushing you to the margins of your career. You are not ready to spend 6 months a year traveling on business to get a promotion, but they are.

The average Chinese student works harder than ours, and the Chinese worker is willing to do your job for a quarter of your salary.

Working a lot is not the path to success, but working little is the path to failure.

4. Cultural environment

In “our” culture it is not customary to work hard and honestly. If you study a lot at a university, disappear into the library and take all the exams yourself, you are a nerd. And if you “didn’t study anything and passed” or “copied everything,” you’re doing great. It is difficult to work hard and honestly when your friends, colleagues, the whole society and you yourself despise yourself for it. It is difficult to strive for success when society itself hates the successful and rich. He hates and envies. Poor people, having got their hands on money, begin to show off their wealth. Really rich people behave more modestly: Abramovich can wear $10 glasses, because with or without them he is Abramovich. You have to love your life and your time. Money is just a tool that makes you financially independent. And if you're financially independent, you can do what you want and not do what you don't want. Be careful with “sacrifices” when you become the best. Don't sacrifice the really important things: family, friends, health, your favorite job. To be financially successful at 50 years old and not have a family, friends, health, or not love your job is not success, it is failure.