One of things I love about Americans is their optimism. It’s not true of everyone, but so many Americans believe they’ll be able to rich and successful one day. Some might plan on winning the lottery, while others plan on creating some new product that sweeps the nation. By and large, Americans see themselves as a few smart moves away from incredible wealth.
Unfortunately, the way I see most people approaching their job sets them up to be in a position where they don’t see the opportunity. They set themselves up to work 40 hours each week (or more), then take their weekend off. The pay check comes, then they repeat it. One week = one sum of money.
That’s not really how massively successful people work. Huge success rarely follows a 1 input/1 output ratio. It works differently.
And here’s the secret massively successful people understand that most people don’t:
Put more input in the beginning with less return, so you can get more return in the end with less input.
Successful people are willing to put tons of work into a project and get very little short-term return, trusting that the long-term returns will be there. Of course, that’s risky. They might not be able to afford the premium package on their cable bill while they’re creating their project. Heck, they might not be able to afford a TV at all. Or a car. Or a nice apartment.
They create something that takes a lot of investment in the beginning but then yields longt-term results. 2000 hours in the beginning, then a couple of hours each week once it’s launched and keeps growing.
It’s a scary proposition. It takes risk. It takes hard work. It takes sacrifice. But that’s how the massively successful people do it.
Imagine what you could create in the next few months—months of grueling and risky work—that would yield longterm results. Then start working on it.