Throwback: Why Hard Work Beats Happiness Every Time | Ep 918 - The Game with Alex Hormozi

Summary

Episode Summary: "Throwback: Why Hard Work Beats Happiness Every Time | Ep 918"

In this insightful episode of The Game with Alex Hormozi, host Alex Hormozi delves deep into the philosophy that hard work surpasses the pursuit of happiness. Drawing from his extensive entrepreneurial journey, Hormozi shares valuable lessons on skill acquisition, the importance of being useful, and the relentless pursuit of mastery.

1. The Input-Output Equation of Skill Mastery

Hormozi introduces the concept of the input-output equation as a fundamental principle for improving any skill. He emphasizes that understanding the specific actions (inputs) required to achieve desired outcomes (outputs) is crucial for mastery.

Alex Hormozi [00:00]: "If you're doing work or you feel like you're not as good at something, you have to figure out what the input output equation is."

He illustrates this with personal anecdotes, highlighting how repetitive practice and deliberate effort are essential. For instance, when preparing for a major presentation, Hormozi practiced extensively, which led to a significant improvement in his performance.

Alex Hormozi [06:45]: "Confidence doesn't come from shouting affirmations in the mirror by having a stack of undeniable proof that you are who you say you are, outwork yourself, doubt."

2. The Pursuit of Usefulness Over Happiness

A central theme of the episode is the shift from seeking happiness to striving to be useful. Hormozi argues that being useful to others necessitates continuous self-improvement, which inherently leads to greater fulfillment than the transient pursuit of happiness.

Alex Hormozi [00:45]: "The nice thing with being useful is that in order to be useful, you have to be useful to other people. No one can be useful on their own."

He shares his personal journey of abandoning the pursuit of happiness, explaining how this mindset allowed him to focus on tangible goals and become more effective in his endeavors.

Alex Hormozi [02:15]: "If what you're doing isn't working for you, I would try this on for size one. Say that you're going to stop trying to be happy. Just give up on it."

3. Overcoming the Fear of Uncertainty and Discomfort

Hormozi discusses the importance of embracing discomfort and uncertainty as necessary components of growth. By avoiding the constant analysis of whether an activity brings happiness, individuals can focus on actions that lead to long-term success.

Alex Hormozi [03:00]: "If you do that, you'll actually start focusing on the tasks and on people outside of yourself, and you'll be amazed at how much better you feel overall."

He uses his experience of switching from pre-med to business as an example of how prioritizing usefulness and passion over immediate happiness can lead to more fulfilling career paths.

4. Deliberate Practice and Repetition for Mastery

Delving into the mechanics of skill acquisition, Hormozi emphasizes the role of deliberate practice—repeating specific tasks with the aim of improving performance. He shares stories of his team members who achieved significant progress through persistent effort.

Alex Hormozi [05:30]: "Sales is like, I have to do a hundred calls a day, I have to do 10 conversations a day. Whatever it is, you do that every single day, and you do that for a year, you get pretty fucking good."

Through examples such as public speaking and writing, Hormozi illustrates how sustained effort and repetition lead to natural confidence and mastery.

Alex Hormozi [07:20]: "You become confident by giving yourself the stack of evidence. The hundred times I went over the presentation, I felt confident going into that because I had a stack of proof that I'd already done it perfectly the last 20 times in a row that I'd done it."

5. The Evolution of Standards and Continuous Improvement

As Hormozi advances in his career, his standards for quality have evolved. He discusses the challenge of maintaining high standards and the importance of continuous improvement to stay relevant and effective.

Alex Hormozi [15:20]: "The hard part for me now is that my level of quality, the standard that I have, is only mine. I know that I could probably put out the first draft and it would probably be a bestseller. It's just that I would know that it could have been better and that would eat me alive."

He highlights the balance between producing high-quality work and the risk of over-preparation, sharing his insights on knowing when a project is sufficiently refined.

6. Focus as a Cornerstone of Success

Concluding the episode, Hormozi underscores the paramount importance of focus in achieving greatness. He explains that mastering a single task allows for deeper expertise and better outcomes compared to spreading efforts across multiple areas.

Alex Hormozi [16:30]: "That's why the biggest guys and biggest business titans in the world talk so much about focus. Because it's not that like focus is the thing, it's just that it takes so much fucking time to do something right that you can't do more than one thing."

He advises listeners to identify their core activities—their input-output equations—and dedicate uninterrupted time to them, fostering an environment conducive to excellence.

Key Takeaways

Hard Work Over Happiness: Prioritizing meaningful work and usefulness leads to sustained fulfillment and success.
Input-Output Equation: Understanding and consistently applying the actions required for skill mastery accelerates improvement.
Deliberate Practice: Repetition and persistent effort are essential for building confidence and expertise.
Continuous Improvement: Maintaining high standards and striving for better outcomes ensures long-term relevance and quality.
Focused Effort: Concentrating on key tasks allows for deeper mastery and prevents the dilution of efforts across too many projects.

Notable Quotes

On Usefulness: "The nice thing with being useful is that in order to be useful, you have to be useful to other people. No one can be useful on their own." [00:45]
On Happiness vs. Action: "Say that you're going to stop trying to be happy. Just give up on it." [02:15]
On Confidence Through Work: "You become confident by giving yourself the stack of evidence." [07:20]
On Focus: "Because it's not that like focus is the thing, it's just that it takes so much fucking time to do something right that you can't do more than one thing." [16:30]

Conclusion

In this episode, Alex Hormozi effectively communicates the profound impact of hard work and deliberate practice on personal and professional growth. By shifting the focus from the elusive pursuit of happiness to the tangible goal of becoming useful and mastering essential skills, Hormozi provides a roadmap for listeners aspiring to elevate their performance and achieve lasting success.

Transcript

A (0:00)

If you're doing work or you feel like you're not as good at something, you have to figure out what the input output equation is. You have to figure out like, what's the thing that I have to do a lot of, because every skill's like this, is that there's a period where you have to do a lot of something and if you don't know what it is, then you're not going to get better. Welcome to the game where we talk about how to get more customers, how to make more per customer and how to keep them longer, and the many failures and lessons we have learned along the way. I hope you enjoy and subscribe. The nice thing with being useful is that in order to be useful, you have to be useful to other people. No one can be useful on their own. You have to be useful to other people. So there's a service element, but there's also a self improvement element which is to be useful to other people, you need to improve yourself. And so that's why I think being useful has been probably my day to day goal of what I need to do. And that served me well. Not saying anyone should or should they can do what they want, but. But for me that's helped me. I mean, this is a Tony Robbins quote, he said if you stay in your head, you're dead. And because it rhymes, it's true. But for real though, like when I was 19, the reason I said fuck happiness was like I realized that I was in this cycle, this loop of trying to like everything you analyze, of like, does this make me happy? Does this pizza make me happy? Does this class make me happy? I mean, I quit pre med because I thought biology didn't make me happy. Now I'm very glad that I did because I like business a lot more now. But like, that was the reason I did it. I studied really hard, I did well, but I was like, this doesn't make me happy. Like, of course if fucking doesn't make you happy, you suck at it. You're learning something, you're going to suck.

B (1:28)

For a very long time.

A (1:28)

It's only when all these skills go together that you'll be good at something and you'll actually be useful to society. Of course you learning the fucking chromosomes doesn't do anything, but it's because of what it shows a school that you're willing to put up with so that you might be useful to society in the particular skill set. And so yeah, I think being useful is a far better goal. And this is me Just shouting out specifically to men. Try this on for a month. If you're happy, do whatever the fuck you. Well, really just do whatever you want either way. But if what you're doing isn't working for you, I would try this on for size one. Say that you're going to stop trying to be happy. Just give up on it. Just stop thinking about it. Like, I'm not. You know what? I'm actually okay with being unhappy. I'm fine with it. I'm still here. Like, it doesn't mean anything. Okay? And so then you can take action despite your lack of happiness and think, okay, how can I be useful to other people? And I think if you do that, you'll actually start focusing on the tasks and on people outside of yourself, and you'll be amazed at how much better you feel overall. And what happened to me when I went into my fuck happiness thing is that I stopped thinking about happiness altogether. And then like years later, I was like, you know what? Because I was so used to. Because I wanted to label myself that way and be okay with it, people would ask me, like, hey, xyz. I'd be like, oh, I'm not a happy person. I would just say that up front. That way I didn't have to. And I remember catching myself probably like five years later, and I was like, huh? I say that. I was like, but I actually really do like my life a lot. So I stopped saying I'm not a happy person because, like, I actually kind of do like my life. But I feel like I only got to liking my life by being willing to not like what I was doing for a long period of time. I think people just only think of the things that, quote, feel good. But there's tons of things that feel good that are not bad for you. Like, sex feels good. It's not bad for you. It's just we immediately jump to, like, cigarettes, booze, you know, whatever. But it's really, anything in excess is bad for you. Even cigarettes. Like, if you have one cigarette a week doesn't do anything for you. Probably you smoke more than that just walking outside, you know what I mean? For a week in terms of just CO2 from cars. So it's always in the dose. People want a binary when it's really a continuum. And so I think learning to work is the most useful thing that you can do. I mean, I think for me, I love finding input, output equations that equal, like, success of some kind. So it's like if you're giving public speaking, I'M going to give this example because it's perfect. So Caleb, who's my team, had said years ago when we met, I don't really like public speaking. I don't like presenting. I don't like that stuff. I'm like, cool. And I think he said somebody to the degree of like, I don't like it or I'm bad at it, whatever. And he did a presentation for the team and it was good. And then he had a bunch of things that he wanted to do better on the next one. Now, between those time periods, I had done the book launch, and so he had seen me prepare for my presentation. And so I did it a hundred times over thirty days. I did it three times a day before I gave the book launch. And, you know, when there was 500,000 people or whatever that were at the launch, when we had 500,000 people registered for the launch and I was about to step on stage, the team that was doing it all said, we do this every day. And I've never seen anyone so, like, relaxed. And it wasn't a front. It was because I had done it so many times. And so fast forward, Caleb had another presentation he had to give, and this time he prepared three times as long. So he did instead of 10 hours of prep, he did 30 hours of prep. And instead of having 80 slides, he had 330 slides. And the presentation went way better. And he noted that he wasn't nervous at all going into the second presentation compared to the first presentation. And so he messaged me afterwards, said, it wasn't that I was bad at speaking, I was just lazy. And I think that a lot of people mistakenly think they're bad at things they haven't even learned how to try. And I do think learning how to try is also domain specific. And so Caleb's an exceptional video editor and media strategist and great with building the team and those skills. But those had been skills that he knew how to work hard at, but this was a completely different skill. And so it's like writing. I have a lot of entrepreneur friends who are writing, writing books now. Now they don't know that I come from background of writing. I got a full writing scholarship to Tufts University, which is a good school. I got a personal letter from their writing seller, like, we love all your stuff. We want you to be here. I ended up going to Vanderbilt, but, like, I was the vice editor of the newspaper. I was the editor in chief of literary magazine when I was in high school. I like writing and so I Know what hard work looks like in writing, which is just editing and editing and editing and editing, which is basically like doing the speech again and doing the speech again and, and doing the speech again. And it's the same as ping pong, which is 500 backhands, 500 forehands. It's just repetition, right? And so right now, if you're doing work or you feel like you're not as good at something, you have to figure out what the input output equation is. You have to figure out, like, what's the thing that I have to do a lot of, because every skill's like this, is that there's a period where you have to do a lot of something and if you don't know what it is, then you're not going to get better. Sales is like, I have to do a hundred calls a day, I have to do 10 conversations a day. Whatever it is, you do that every single day, and you do that for a year, you get pretty fucking good. And so you have to learn what that output equation is so that you can push as much. If it's me, once I know it, then I just jam as much input as I possibly can into that thing. And then that's where the whole quote that went viral was. Confidence doesn't come from shouting affirmations in the mirror by having a stack of undeniable proof that you are who you say you are, outwork yourself, doubt. And so, like, you become confident by giving yourself the stack of evidence. The hundred times I went over the presentation, I felt confident going into that because I had a stack of proof that I'd already done it perfectly the last 20 times in a row that I'd done it. So why would 21 be different? And if you've had a thousand sales calls on your thousand first, if people are watching, they're like, man, you sound so confident. You're like, it's just how it is. It's not like I'm confident. I just know what's going to happen next. And so I prefer to think about as like, do it so many times you get bored of doing it. And like, that's when you'll look confident to everyone on the outside because you'll have no emotional affect to the outcome because you'll have recognized the patterns so many times that there's nothing that's going to surprise you. And I think that most people just don't know how to work that hard. Like, there is no way that anyone will know how hard I've worked on the Books, just imagine that there's a reason that they're all time bestsellers for each of the categories they're in. And still they're like, it's because you're following. It's like, no, you know why I know that? Look at every other fucking person who has a following and their books don't fucking sell. Even though they have a big following. They launch it and then they stop selling. Why? Because the book sucked. They had a ghostwriter, they voiced it in whatever they make their whatever 5 million bucks or whatever it is, they think the book is finished when it has reached the number of pages that creates a book. Like, I can write a book in two weeks if I was just trying to write a certain number of pages. But like, I've usually written five times the amount of pages as what actually comes out in the final draft. And I've rewritten end to end the whole thing, not once or twice, but like 10 times end to end. But you know what happens when you do that? You get really fucking good at knowing what is important, what isn't. And you also give yourself way more outside life exposures that trigger new thoughts over that period of time that remind you of things that can make it better. And so it's kind of like when you paint, it's like putting coats of paint and letting it dry. And so I kind of see editing drafts as like another coat of paint. And then you think you're like, you know what? I went to a new area today and I saw this new yellow. I wonder if I could throw that in. If you had immediately shipped it, you wouldn't have had the opportunity to see the yellow thing because time didn't transpire during the creation of the thing. And so I think there's a reason that books that take 10 years to write look and read like they took 10 years to write. There's just a depth to the quality. I find happiness in figuring out what my input output equation is and doing it as much as humanly possible. You want to make it easy as possible to work as hard as you can. And so everything that is not that input output equation is interference.