How To Get Ahead Of 99% Of People (Starting Right Now)

If you want an extraordinary life, you can't live like an ordinary person. Because it is only when you do what most won't that eventually, you can live like most can’t. In Christopher Nolan's film Interstellar, there is a scene in which Matthew McConaughey's character is explaining to us the mechanics of a wormhole. He pulls out a piece of paper. At the top, he writes point A with a dot. And at the bottom he puts another dot labelled point B. And he shares that in order to go from point A to poi

nt B, you have to draw a line connecting the two. And this is how most of us think about travel to go from point A to B, we follow the path that is laid in front of us. But he then gets that piece of paper. He folds it in half and now Point A is directly on top of point B and that is how a wormhole functions. You're able to go from one point to another instantaneously. The moment you start to think and act different to the majority is a moment that you begin to travel through your own wormholes,

towards your dream life. You go from standing on the sidelines as an armchair critic and a spectator in the audience to stepping foot into the arena. As Steve Jobs said during a speech in 1994: “Most people never pick up the phone. Most people never call and ask. And that's what sometimes separates those who do things from those who just dream about them. You gotta act.” It won't be easy, however, and you must be comfortable with being different. You will be mocked and made fun of. It will be l

onely, especially at the start, and you will be challenged to step outside of your comfort zone every single day to get close to the magic that awaits on the other side. The truth is, that only those who are scared to try what you are going to do will speak you out of taking action and will make fun of you for doing so. Those who are really focused on what matters most simply won't have time to focus on you. Rather, they are more likely to respect you for taking bold action. So if you want to ge

t ahead of 99% of people, you must be willing to do what 99% of people won't do. I'm going to share three ways that you can do so right now, starting today. Let's get to it. The first way is to create third doors. This concept is taken from Alex Banayan's book The Third Door, in which he explains that life, business, success is just like a nightclub. There are always three ways in. There's the first door - the main entrance, where the line curves around the block, where 99% of people wait, hopin

g to get in. There's the second door where the billionaires, the celebrities and the people that were born into it slip through. But what no one tells you is that there is always, always a third door It’s the entrance where you have to jump out of line, run down the alley, bang on a door a hundred times, crack open a window, sneak through the kitchen. There is always, always a way. I saw this in action at a Q&A event in East London for Richard Branson's book, Finding My Virginity. a member of th

e audience close to the front row was busy scribbling down his business idea. As he did so, he finished with his contact details at the bottom, folded that piece of paper into an airplane and threw it towards Richard Branson's direction. Branson picked up this paper airplane on his lap. He opened it up and he shared with the audience that somebody near the front had thrown him their business idea This person sitting in the audience had just created their own third door. They had got Branson's at

tention and they had bypassed 99% of the people in the audience who wanted his attention as well. This idea of creating third doors is also something that I enjoy a lot. I remember when I was putting together an event and I wanted the co-founder of the meal delivery company HelloFresh to come and speak to my audience. So I jumped onto social media and I saw him share a post about his upcoming book that he was about to publish. And I wrote in the comments: “Congratulations! I would love to buy a

copy of your book for everyone in the audience who is attending my event. Would you want to come along and talk about it, take photos with those attending and sign copies of the books I am going to buy?” Within just a few hours, he responded with the words, “Let's do it.” I consciously sit at the front or as close to the front as possible at events in order to not only connect with the speaker, but also the cool and interesting people that you find in the front rows. A few years back, this allow

ed me the opportunity to get to know Marie Foleo’s hair stylist at the book launch for Everything is Figureoutable. Three years later, he then convinced Marie to write an endorsement for my book Energize Joining a mastermind group where YouTuber Ali Abdaal was also a member, gave me the opportunity to be a guest on his Deep Dive podcast show, where I got the chance to talk about my book, my lessons and insights with his community. So how can you start creating your very own third doors to get ah

ead of 99% of people? Part two live in the stretch zone. At any moment in your life, you are going to be living in either the comfort zone, the stretch zone, or the panic zone. The comfort zone is when you are immersed in the familiar and can therefore rely on going through your days living on autopilot. Stay here too long, however, and it can be difficult to venture beyond it and ultimately lead to a life of mediocrity. The panic zone is when you jump headfirst into deep water. It's scary and o

verwhelming, and if you're not careful, it can make you feel scared of ever wanting to leave the comfort zone again. It can become an experience that anchors itself deep inside of you, giving you fear of ever wanting to do that activity again. The stretch zone is really the zone where you want to be operating from. You are doing things that force you to raise your standards and challenge you to be better than who you were yesterday, but not too far that you feel overwhelmed. I remember attending

my very first mastermind group at a time where I was still employed, but with dreams of one day working for myself. As each member shared who they were, their achievements and what they were working on, I felt like I was an imposter. I felt like I was the dumbest person in the room because I had not yet started a business. I was on the way, but I was far behind where any of them were. But being in my stretch zone, stretching myself out of my comfort zone that evening taught me the power of bein

g around people that are ahead of you. Learning from others. But also that when you do so, when you put yourself in situations where you may be the dumbest person in that circle or that environment, you allow yourself to soak up the knowledge and the wisdom that is shared. That environment inspires you to think bigger, bolder and braver. It also taught me the importance of challenging myself on a regular basis, working with coaches and mentors who can help me raise my game and focusing on learni

ng new skills every year. This year, for example, it is YouTube. I haven't given the channel much love over the years, and so this year I want to start focusing on delivering more regular content to bring value to you. And I am conducting experiments like a mad scientist with no attachment to whether they work out or not. Like exploring a six course dining experience inspired by my book, joining another mastermind group where again, I will feel like the dumbest person in that circle and collabor

ations to create new products that I'm completely new to. Living in the stretch zone is understanding that to be ahead of 99% of people, you must be playing the infinite game, i.e. you have a greater focus on habits over goals. The achievement of a goal is not the end for you. It is merely a milestone on the journey towards further improving and fulfilling your potential. Most of us, however, are afraid of looking like a beginner. there is a freedom that comes with not caring about what others m

ay think. They may ask you Why? at the beginning, but eventually they will ask you How? As the philosopher Alain de Botton remarked, “Anyone who isn't embarrassed by who they were last year isn't learning enough.” So what choices will you made today to stretch yourself and to live in this stretch zone going forward? Part 3: Become a Luck Magnet. Luck and randomness play a big role in getting ahead of 99% of people. While there is a side of luck that we can't control, there is also the side where

we can increase the chances for it to happen. And this comes down to being a prolific creator. You want to move away from being a hyper consumer to a hyper creator. throughout his life, Picasso produced 50,000 works of art. That's at least 1 to 3 new pieces a day. He had no idea which ones of his artwork were going to succeed and which ones were going to fail. He just kept rolling the dice over and over again until he created a masterpiece. The more you create, therefore, the more likely it bec

omes that you will succeed. As the entrepreneur Sara Blakely said when talking about her upbringing, “Failure is less an outcome and more about not trying.” The difference you see between a master and a student is that the master has failed more times than the student has ever tried. Many of my so-called lucky breaks have come from introductions, referrals and invitations on the back of content that I've shared across my social media, newsletter and book. My book, for example, led me to being in

vited to the U.S. to speak at a conference alongside the likes of New York Times bestseller Esther Perel and my social media posts have led to work with some incredible clients and to receive invitations to be part of exclusive communities. Design a system that allows you to be a prolific creator and eventually your masterpiece will be born. To live like most can't, you have to do what most won’t. You must create third doors, live in the stretch zone and become a luck magnet. Put these into acti

on today and you will soon be getting ahead of 99% of people. if you enjoyed this video, it would be amazing if you could hit that subscribe button, give it a thumbs up and leave a comment below. In the meantime, thank you so much for watching and I'll see you in the next video.