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 1. “You become what you believe. You are where you are today in your life based on everything you have believed.” —Oprah Winfrey, net worth of $2.9 billion

  • You must believe that success is inevitable and that you will succeed.
  • Greatness is possible in every walk of life.
  • Like Steve Jobs, billionaires have shifted the way our world works, because they believe in the impossible and are willing to discover the undiscovered.
  • Change is possible – greatness is possible but you must first believe in yourself.

2. “What we say here every day is that our success is really based on our members’ success, our community’s success.” —Pierre Omidyar, net worth of $8.5 billion

  • Your success is directly tied to how much you do for others.
  • It’s not what you know. It’s not who you know.
  • It’s what you do for who you know.
  • Success follows generosity.

3. “The typical human life seems to be quite unplanned, undirected, unlived, and unsavored. Only those who consciously think about the adventure of living as a matter of making choices among options, which they have found for themselves, ever establish real self-control and live their lives fully.” —Karl Albrecht, net worth of $26.9 billion

  • Everything is a choice of what to do (or not to do)
  • Most people are living life passively and think it is something that happens to them.
  • Life is something we must intentionally life by pursuing our options and creating our own circumstances.

4. “If I’m going to do something, I do it spectacularly or I don’t do it at all.” —Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud, net worth of $20 billion

  • While perfection is a myth – as humans, we’re meant to be efficient to a certain degree but not perfect.
  • However, intentional focus and determination are the very necessary ingredients to do things spectacularly.
  • Regardless of what your goal is, greatness doesn’t come from just “putting in your time” as that time can be wasted by doing things that are non-related to the task at hand.
  • The time you put means it has to be done with effort, energy and lots of resolve.

5. “It’s through curiosity and looking at opportunities in new ways that we’ve always mapped our path at Dell. There’s always an opportunity to make a difference.” —Michael Dell, net worth of $15.9 billion

  • A downturn or failure in an individual life or a company’s organization is an opportunity disruption, change and growth.
  • Every company or individual needs to evolve and come up with new solutions to existing problems
    Every company or individual also needs to come up with new solutions for problems that have not risen yet by being future oriented.

6. “No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit.” —Andrew Carnegie, net worth of $310 billion (in todays dollars)

  • Success unshared is often failure – Andrew Carnegie who founded the steel industry would not have been able to do it by himself if it weren’t for the thousands who helped him.
  • By working and giving credit for those who help us, we find meaning in our work – its all about appreciation.
  • Success in any walk of life is to be shared with others, billionaires are often motivated by factors other than just money or fame.

7. “The ultimate definition of success is: you could lose everything that you have and truly be okay with it. Your happiness isn’t based on external factors.” —Tony Hsieh, net worth of $840 million

  • We often say to ourselves:
  • Once I get this job, I’ll be happy
  • Once I get that house, I’ll be happy
  • If I only had more money
  • If I only had ______ fill in the blank
  • Life rarely works this way – being in Strategic Coach for the last few months, I’ve been realizing to record my small wins.
  • In life, we forget to record our wins, to take into account or current accomplishments.
  • Your external factors mean anything – they live in your mind only and you’re the one to give it power.
  • Happiness comes before success – in order for success to be a realized, you must first be happy.

8. “Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing.” –Warren Buffett net worth 60 billion

  • Too often pay too much attention to what our siblings, parents and friends are doing.
  • There is often this competitive drive or a need to be at the same degree as them.
  • Regardless if it is an academic pursuit or the level of success someone important to us has achieved, we often undermine our own likes and dislikes and instead, find a way to compete with others while completely disregarding our own fulfillment and happiness.
  • Isn’t “keeping up with the Jones’ similar to this paradigm?

Instead:

  • Figure out the principles and values that matter most to you.
  • Let go of the need to check on what everyone else is doing.
  • It is not necessary to compare what you’re doing with everyone else.
  • We each have a story in this world – your story must be unique to you.

5-Star Reviews this week:

  • Hg_al_dude: I’ve been listening for about a month now. This is one of my podcasts. Great content, keep it up William.
  • TracyDJB: This podcast is very inspiring for business owners. I enjoy listening to a host and guests who have experience that can help me and my business with concrete ideas and advice.
  • Justglenn1: William does a great job of inspiring and motivating in a humble and regular guy way. He’s not a rah, ray hyper guy.

If you tune in every week to listen to me speak, I really appreciate it. I have one quick 30-second favor to ask you – please go to willimshaker.com/iTunes and leave an honest review… If you have a web site you would like me to promote, put that in your review as well and I’ll read it on the next podcast. I think this is a win-win strategy.

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