Thread by @AJA_Cortes

Seven Habits of TRYING to be Successful

-I wrote this when I was 23, (Im 32 now). Its good advice

1. Waking up stupid early
If you want anything in life to happen, you have to make something move, and that means getting that started as soon as possible...

If you want to maximize your quantitative experience, then start your day early. If you want waste time, then wake up whenever you like

But don’t be surprised when you get beaten by someone who put in more time than you did—because it will happen.

2. Working way later than you should.
Rarely do people fail because they devote too much time to something

Aside from actively working to create opportunity, there will also always be instances where someone has the good fortune to simply be the person that showed up first...

stayed late, and was in just the right place at just the right time

That does occasionally happen (not that it's something to ever count on), but it arises from you being there in the first place—before and after everyone else.

3. Being tired.
If you devote enough time to something you care about, then it will make you tired. At times your sleep will suffer, you will run on coffee and energy drinks...but it will be worth it at the end

Get comfortable with it and dont avoid it., fatigue is a skill

4. Putting up with bullshit and/or dumbasses.

No one gets through life bullshit-free, at least no one who has done anything worthwhile. You will have bosses you hate, coworkers that give your whole industry a bad name, and team members who are disrespectful assholes...

You will also be forced to endure all manner of incompetency, pointless meetings and trainings, backstabbing, lawsuits, work politics, petty bullshit over who said what, and every other eye-stabbing irritation you can think of

And it never ends because...

The more successful you become, the more aware you will be of how screwed everything can be

You can be let this bother you and be angry constantly

OR,
You can set boundaries, standards of excellence, vigorously enforce them, work for yourself or start your own business, and...

earn to let go of things you cant affect, do what you can, and do your damnedest to do the right things, make things work, and accept that people are people and that the bullshit and the obstacles are what make you better over everything else

5. Out-learning everyone around you

The day you stop learning is the day you steadily start working to become irrelevant. Anything that might be relative to what you do: read it, watch it, learn it, work with that expert person, and find a way to gain greater perspective...

Knowledge is value, and the most well-respected people in a field are the ones who simply “know more" compared to everyone else—Learning never stops, and it becomes more and more important the higher you go.

6. Knowing that this is going to take awhile

Things are going to take as long as they are supposed to take—not how long you want them to take

Again, this will be repeated across the entirety of your human experience. So, you had better learn to enjoy the process

7. Failing forward

You’re going to fail...a lot. And sometimes really badly. There are different ways of failing, and I can't readily say that everything can be well handled (as there will be times when you royally fuck up)
The best advice I could give is to fail forward

Somehow fail ahead of where you started.

Learn everything you can from it and work to end up ahead. Sometimes you fail sideways.

Success is not a straight path—sometimes going sideways gives you the perspective to move back to where you need to be.

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