1. The best is the enemy of the good
To be better means to be better than others, to surpass them and differ from them. You cannot do the same as everyone else to become the best. You need your own path.
You cannot be the best at everything: while you are learning everything, someone else is specializing in one thing. The best way to become the best is to choose one very narrow specialty and become a world-class pro in it.
If you have been doing ballet since age five for 8 hours a day, there will always be someone who has been training since age three and for 10 hours a day. By age fifteen, their experience will exceed yours by 5,000 hours. And there are also geniuses, where for every hour they need, you need to practice three. And the best teachers in the world—while you, for example, are self-taught.
The only way to become the best without a unique path is to work more than everyone else, be talented, have good teachers, and have wealthy parents. Although that is not exactly “like everyone else,” is it?
But even the fastest and most hardworking horse in the world will not outrun a car. You need your own strategy, your own unique plan to become the best without sacrificing everything in the process.
2. Becoming the best is not easy
There will always be someone who started earlier than you. Some people have wealthy parents, some studied at the best university in the world. Some were hired by relatives. It is not a big deal. It happens. This is called “different starting conditions.” But such people are a minority: the world is full of those who achieved success on their own thanks to unconventional thinking, hard work, and the ability to keep learning new things.
Life resembles a card game. Anyone will win if they are dealt all trumps—a professional will win regardless of the cards dealt. They minimize the impact through their skill. No one understands this as well as professional athletes. Many of them have only a few years to seize their chance and achieve success.
3. There is always someone who is ready to work more than you
There are many such people. Among them are workaholics, perfectionists, and people simply in love with their work. Yes, many of them sacrifice family and friends and are ready to work 80 hours a week. Work is their life. This is not our path. But they are perfectly capable of pushing you onto the career shoulder. You are not ready to spend 6 months a year on business trips to get a promotion, but they are.
The average Chinese school student works harder than a European one, and an employee in China is ready to do your work for a quarter of your salary. Working a lot is not the path to success, but working little is the path to defeat.
4. Cultural environment
In few places in the world is it customary to work a lot and honestly. If in college you study a lot, disappear into the library, and take all exams on your own, you are a nerd. But if you “partied all semester but passed,” or in some other way “beat the system,” you are a hero. On the road called “work more,” the competition is too high (a traffic jam, if you like); this method no longer works. You need to look for another path.
It is hard to strive for success when society itself hates successful and wealthy people. Hates them and envies them. Poor people, once they get money, start showing off their wealth. Truly wealthy people behave more modestly: Bill Gates can wear a $10 T-shirt because with it—or without it—he is Bill Gates.
Meanwhile, it is businesspeople who create jobs and move the economy forward. The wages of employees are the result of businesses competing for the best talent. The more businesses there are in a country, the higher salaries will be.
You must love your life and your time. Money is just a tool that makes you financially independent. And if you are financially independent, you can do what you want and not do what you do not want.
Be more careful with “sacrifices” when you are becoming the best. Do not sacrifice truly important things: family, friends, health, the work you love. Being financially successful at 50 and having no family, no friends, no health, and not loving your work is not success—it is failure.
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