Ugh.
2 a.m.
I'm working, editing.
Fuck.
In this video, I wanna talk about why you have to be a little delusional to succeed.
Growing up, I've always been obsessed with YouTube, with algorithms, with content creation cameras filmmaking, editing all these different things.
While people my age were partying or playing sports or doing things that were considered fun in the short term, I was behind my desk finding enjoyment with just editing on Premiere Pro.
And when I would spend 10 hours straight just editing YouTube videos, learning how cameras work, just sitting at my desk with my notebook, studying thumbnails from my favorite YouTube creators.
It looked silly.
It looked stupid.
And it was stupid because...
I was so young and I had no clue what I was doing.
But at the same time, that was my greatest advantage.
I truly believe that the reason most people don't succeed nowadays is because of analysis paralysis.
They overthink things.
They try to convince themselves why taking that leap of faith and going off the normal path and doing something unique is wrong because no one else is doing it and they overanalyze it.
They justify reasons to not take that leap of faith, to pursue their dreams, and they just stay where they are for the rest of their life and that's fine.
You know, some people like that.
Some people are cool with spending their lives being mediocre.
Not even that.
Like you can, you can enjoy just like a normal life go to college, follow the rules, stay in the box, like that's technically not a bad life.
If you enjoy that, you enjoy that.
For me personally, i don't enjoy that.
I love building, i love chasing things, i love striving for greatness in every single aspect of my life, just finding ways to improve.
And you don't get there by making realistic decisions and thinking realistically inside a box.
So my greatest advantage was getting into all of this at such a young age, because i had no clue what i was doing.
But i had this gut feeling that what i was doing was on the right path, that whatever i did with my life, i was going to pursue youtube, i was going to pursue content creation, because that's all i cared about, that's all i loved, and i was like i'm gonna succeed with this, i'm gonna build something off of this, i'm gonna find a way to make a living off of this.
I wasn't even thinking about money back then, to be honest.
I just loved the art of creating or I would die trying.
This was all I cared about in life.
I left in-person high school to go to online school.
I'm 17 now.
So I could build a business around YouTube.
I was willing to take these uncalculated risks simply because I just knew what I wanted to do.
And people saw that and they thought it was silly.
It was just like another kid.
I want to move to Miami, buy a business and learn everything about stocks and finances.
That whole like thing where everyone's just dreaming about the lifestyle.
But I was dreaming about the craft, the inputs, not the outputs.
But I was able to grow a pair of balls.
Look at everyone around me and be like yeah, you guys are all wanting to stay on the traditional path, to stick in school, get a safe job, continue down that path.
That's great.
Do that.
That's like the quote-unquote safe way to do things you could say, because everyone else is doing it.
You're just gonna be put in the average of what a human being is, which is fine.
But at the same time, i knew that i had some advantage.
I knew that i had a vision, that i had this skill set that i'd acquired after years and years of just obsessing over content creation that I needed to tap into.
So it's sort of like this picture here, I'll show you.
So it's one guy looking at a group of probably thousands of people and he says yes, you're all wrong.
That was sort of how it felt.
Then i want to over exaggerate it because it wasn't like i was this prodigy that left school and started the business.
No, it was just like a normal thing.
I was like, let me just leave school, i want to focus on this.
But it did feel like everyone around me was focusing on this one thing and i was this one individual with no friends, no family, no connections with people who are on the same path as me, no one around my age doing it at all, and i just said screw that.
I know the math looks dumb, i know it doesn't make sense, i know like i don't even know how i'm gonna make money off of this, but i love creating content and i'm just gonna put everything into it.
I'm gonna sacrifice the fun years and i'm gonna dedicate it to this one craft, and i think that's what you have to do if you want to succeed.
You have to be able to take these uncalculated risks simply because you see the larger vision, and this doesn't mean like drop out of college with no clue what you want to do.
My situation is super unique.
I had things work out before it was time to leave high school like things were moving, videos were doing well, the business was actually growing, i was making sufficient income, and that's when i knew okay, it's fine, like i'm comfortable, i can leave, but of course, if you're starting off, Don't be too stupid.
You can be as stupid as you want.
Like honestly, people have done some really dumb stuff and still succeeded, so go ahead if you think it's right.
Like I don't even know what's right and wrong anymore, because I've seen such crazy risks actually pay off.
But you have to be delusional if you want to succeed.
You have to be able to look at everyone in the eyes and say, you're absolutely wrong.
Maybe there's more of you saying that I'm wrong, but...
I know what I want.
I see the larger vision.
I see the bigger picture.
And I'm going to take that step forward, away from the crowd, to head towards the life that I want to live.
And if you look at all the greats Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg they all did very exceptional things.
In order to do something exceptional, you have to be the exception.
By definition, that's how it has to work.
So you're not going to get abnormal results without doing abnormal actions.
And to take it one step further, if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.
If you want to change the way your life looks, you have to change the way you think, the way you act, the way you live.
And I truly believe there are levels to this.
You improve your life.
You get yourself in a comfortable situation where you don't have to worry about paying the bills.
Like money is very consistent.
You have an abundance of wealth.
Then you can support those around you.
And now you're covered.
Those around you are covered.
And the next step of that is actually supporting a much larger cause.
This could be building a business with the goal of actually changing an industry.
This could be building a company that impacts the employees and Genuinely changes the world, and that's a really interesting point.
There's this quote that I've lived my entire life by, and it's the sole reason I've been able to achieve such significant things at a young age.
It's from Steve Jobs and it goes the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.
You don't get anywhere by thinking small.
You don't get anywhere by thinking realistic.
You have to be delusional.
You have to have a few screws loose.
You have to be able to look at the crowd and say, you're all wrong and I'm right.
It sounds egotistical.
It sounds arrogant, but only to the small minded people.
When you share your big dreams with small minded people, they'll shoot it down.
But if you were young and you go to LeBron James and tell him that you've been training consistently to become an NBA player, he'll be the only one in that room that doesn't laugh at you, because he was once in your position.
And he knows that in order to achieve something significant, you have to take that first step.
And it all comes down to how hard you're willing to work, how many hours you're willing to put in, how smart you're able to be with the work you do.
And finally, the cherry on top, how delusional you can be, how large of risks you can take.
Because if your risk tolerance is high and you're not in entrepreneurship, you're missing out.
You can do whatever the fuck you want to do with your life.
If you want to be a doctor, go be a doctor.
If you want to stay in school and pursue the college path, do that.
If you want to build a company up to a billion dollar valuation, go do it.
Screw what everyone else says.
I don't care if it's unrealistic.
Like you're not going to get anywhere near your goals if you don't believe in it yourself.
Just shift your mindset.
Become crazy.
Have those around you tell you you're going on the wrong path.
If you're 18 to your late 20s, you could try things and completely fail for the next 10 years, and you'd still be ahead of the crowd probably.
Just think about how many people don't have any plans, visions, aspirations, or goals in their life.
They're just mindlessly going through it.
Like, it's so easy to win nowadays.
It's not that difficult to compete against the general population.
You just have to have a vision, obsess over it and try to become as knowledgeable as possible in that space.
If you can do that and show up every single day because you know if you show up every single day you'll never miss a lucky day then you will succeed.
And you have to be delusional about it.
You have to have the vision.
You have to be very focused on it.
And you have to ignore all outside noise because you're the visionary.
You're the one with the idea.
Screw what everyone else thinks right.
I've never once in my life doubted myself.
I've always set goals that are bigger than i could reach and i've actually reached them.
Like it's been an absurd journey so far.
In retrospect it feels unreal.
In the moment it feels like i have a long way to go, And then I'm not even 1 not even 01 tapped into the potential I actually have.
My worst fear as a man and this should keep you up at night as well is not fully tapping into my potential.
It's leaving something left on the table.
You know, it's making it to the end of life and realizing that there was so much more impact I could have had on this earth.
You know, it's important that we eat healthy.
We work out, we exercise, we go outside.
But the goal here isn't to live forever.
It's to create something that will.
And I think if you can get that right, if you can figure out what to live for, if you can figure out what you're passionate about and just go full fucking throttle towards it,
Ignore the outside noise.
Screw what they think.
They haven't been able to do it themselves anyways.
Their limiting beliefs have kept them in the same place for the past 20 years.
Do what you want to do.
I think that right there, that's worth living for.
I've been extremely blessed to be able to build really cool companies, really cool things with really cool people.
People in my corner are unbelievably talented, unbelievably kind-hearted, incredible individuals, and I truly believe I'm connected with some of the most impressive individuals in the world of this modern generation.
Of The way things are headed, it's all headed towards content.
It's all headed towards organic marketing.
It's all headed towards these different avenues.
Those are the types of people I surround myself with.
I didn't go out of my way to network.
It happens when you build yourself up.
When you have a vision, when you have a goal and everyone around you tells you it's crazy, but you still do it.
It's funny.
Your circle goes from people who doubt you to people who believe in you.
And that doesn't happen because the people around you realize you were correct.
Because they'll forever be stubborn, you know, until you actually can show them the bank statement and you actually have the wealth.
You've actually achieved the goal.
They're going to forever be stubborn.
They're going to forever think they're right.
But the reason why those around you are on the same path as you is because your circle changes.
When you focus on yourself, when you focus on improving your lifestyle, you attract people who want the same for themselves.
And that's why you should be delusional.
That's why you should take the risk.
That's why you should build a company.
That's why you should launch the YouTube channel.
That's why you should put yourself out there.
Because if you don't do it, someone else will.
And it'll probably be fucking me.
