Why only 1% succeed? I'm sure majority of us want to succeed, want to live our dreams, want to achieve things in life that others can only imagine. But only 1% of us actually live their dreams. Why is it so?
The answer to it is simple. While the majority of us plan to change everything in our lives and are really determined to do so, only a fraction of us actually take action and do something.
If there are 100 people who decide to have a change in their lives tonight at 2 am, when they wake up next morning, 50 will have completely forgotten about it. That leaves us with 50. 10 will realise that their normal schedule is too tough to 'have a change' and so they will postpone this 'change' plan for a few months atleast(until their life is better, which is not going to happen). Leaves us with 40. 30 of them will give up in a week because they will be manipulated by their friends (these friends, by the way, are a part of the 50 that forgot about their plans after waking up). Leaves us with 10 people. Now these 10, they are our finalists. Some of them will last, some of them will go with the flow and give up. Some of them will have the idea of 'change' in their minds, but they won't take any action. Their idea of change will be limited to having motivational quotes in their phone gallery and 'thinking' that "One day I'm gonna make it." Zero execution, but 100% thinking. Planning without action. That will cut our list of 10 finalists down to one. Now, this is our guy.
This guy is going places. He's focused, he knows what he wants to do. He knows his goals and he's not going to get distracted by anyone and anything. He's mentally stronger than the 99. He does not complain. He knows he is completely responsible for his situation, so learns from his mistakes and does not play the blame game. He does not give a shit about anyone. He is selfish. He probably does not even have friends, because he knows that hanging out with the weak will make him weak. So he surrounds himself with perfection and only perfection. He demands perfection.
But the most important factor why this guy is the only one who is going to make it, is the fact that he has accepted that 'Change takes time'. In this pacy world where the 99 have quit because they didn't get instant results, he has the patience to wait. Perseverance is important and he knows that. He's ready to grind for days, months and even years even if he doesn't get results. Because he knows that he's a part of a process. A process that's making him strong. He knows Rome wasn't built in a day. So he's working on the foundation today, so that the foundation can hold the weight of everything that he wants to build tomorrow.
Are you this guy? If not, why not? It's not that difficult to be a part of the 1%. In fact, if you've reached this part of the article without thinking that any of the above mentioned point was wrong, you're already much more ahead than the majority.
Stop thinking and start doing. Especially the ones in the 16-21 age group who are reading this. Use the Internet for good. We're lucky to live in the Internet generation. The internet has answers to almost all our problems. Make use of it that way. Delete every person from your life who is not adding measurable value to your existence. Who X spent the night with is not your problem. Who Y in Z's snapchat story is, is not your problem. Your problem is, you spending an hour texting P on instagram when you should rather be spending that hour figuring out why you don't have $1000 in your pocket. People will tell you otherwise, but money solves 99% of your problems. Anyone who doesn't agree with this is either broke or has money and doesn't know how to spend. You are who you hang out with. Invest time and energy only in people who you believe will matter 20 years from now. Before spending time with someone, ask yourself, "Will this guy offer me food and shelter if I go broke 20 years from now?" If the answer is yes, only then invest in that person. If the answer is maybe or no, that's not the person to invest your time in.
Hang out with people who have already done it. Now, I know I can't plan a dinner with Phil Knight (founder of Nike). But what I can do instead, is read his book or watch his interviews on YouTube so that I don't end up making the same mistakes he made. That's how I will hang out with him. That's how you spend time with people who are 10, 20 or even 50 years ahead of where you want to be.