How To Finally Stop Caring What Other People Think - Alex Hormozi

CChris Williamson
Mental HealthManagementAdult Education

Transcript

00:00:00Don't listen to other people's opinions. Friendly reminder that most people are fat,
00:00:04poor pansies and don't listen to them when they try to deter you from whatever it takes to succeed.
00:00:09The average person will always try to keep you average. It makes sense that if you want to be
00:00:14extraordinary, you will do things that an ordinary person would see as extra. This is the really hard
00:00:19part that I had to come to terms with. It's that a lot of people want to see you fail because it
00:00:25justifies the risk that they chose not to take. We always have to think about listening to the
00:00:29people who are closest to our goals, not closest to us. We yearn for the approval of many people
00:00:46who don't have lives that we want. And so if they have a specific life, then it means that that is
00:00:57what they think is valuable. And if we don't want what they have, then why would we value their weight
00:01:08on our decisions? And so it's like, you have this, they're like, we have this mold that is my life.
00:01:15Your life no longer fits my mold. And you're like, right. I don't like the pot that that mold makes.
00:01:21And so somehow when people state the obvious, which is that you are living your life against
00:01:25my preferences, we somehow feel like that needs to change because when we're younger and growing up,
00:01:33we don't leave. Yeah. You can't leave. And you do need to live your life according to your parents'
00:01:37preferences, your teacher's preferences, your classmates' preferences, your principal's preferences.
00:01:42But when you get older, you do have to break the mold and decide what mold you want. And in so doing,
00:01:48you will be against their preferences. And if the vast majority of people have a life that you don't
00:01:52want, then you're going to do things that the vast majority of people don't agree with.
00:01:56Mm-hmm. I think the average American adult is obese, likely to be divorced, and has less than 1K in the
00:02:02bank. And doing what everybody else does sounds like a great idea, but it's actually a reliable
00:02:08route to a life that you're probably not looking for.
00:02:15I feel very passionately about this particular topic because
00:02:20it means that the path to exceptionalism is lonely. And loneliness is something that we
00:02:33decry as a society, that there's something wrong with it, there's something bad, there's something
00:02:38wrong with you if many people disagree with you. But success and pursuit of large endeavors is one
00:02:48of those few domains where everyone disagreeing with you is a signal that you are actually doing
00:02:57something different. Now, sometimes you doing something different is the wrong move. I think Larry
00:03:06Ellison said this. He said, uh, if everyone thinks your idea is stupid, either they're right or you're
00:03:17right. And if you're right, then you're likely to make a lot of money. I'm loosely paraphrasing,
00:03:23but basically it's like, we have to be willing to do exceptional things in isolation and deal with
00:03:29the pain of rejection. Um, and some of rejection isn't people saying, no, I don't want to buy from you.
00:03:34Some of rejection is people just rejecting your behavior, rejecting who you're becoming,
00:03:38rejecting the choices that you're making. Um, and I think that rejection oftentimes is harder because
00:03:42it often surfaces as snide remarks, jokes that are demeaning that have a little bit too much edge to
00:03:48them, like a little bit too much truth. Or even just being excluded, a more silent version of that,
00:03:53not commission, but omission. Uh, we won't invite them out. Uh, you, you, you turned up to squash
00:03:58practice. I didn't know it was on. I just thought that, I don't know. Do you guys not tell me? Uh,
00:04:02yeah, well, all right, come on, join. Yeah. This, those moments. And I think those moments
00:04:06are very painful. Um, but you, you trade those moments for the many moments when you're at home,
00:04:16alone, looking at your life around you and saying, this is not what I want.
00:04:22I don't want to be here. Right. I don't want to be here. I don't want to be who I am.
00:04:25And I don't want to be there with them either. Right. And so it's no man's land. Um,
00:04:30and I think that that is like the beginning of the metamorphosis. It's the beginning of the
00:04:34transformation. It's the single most powerful idea that me and you have come up with the Lonely
00:04:37Chapter by far, by far. And I think the reason that it speaks to people is that the amount of doubt
00:04:43that you have to endure when doing this for the first time, when nobody around you understands what
00:04:49you're trying to do, when you're actively being discouraged from making changes and you have no promise of
00:04:53glory or success on the other side of it is one of the most perfect cocktails of pain
00:05:00and discomfort that you can go through. And this happens on every mountain.
00:05:05So it happens on your first mountain and it happens on your second mountain. Like if you are,
00:05:08you've achieved some level of success that everyone around you deems as successful enough
00:05:12by their standards, not yours. When you pursue the next summit, they then all of it begins again.
00:05:19The machine begins again. I actually think that for a lot of people, the first big lonely chapter that
00:05:26they will feel will be after their first success, because for a lot of people, the first success is
00:05:30done within the frame that they're already inside of. They get to the top of it and realize it wasn't
00:05:36what they wanted. And then some people decide to go back down. Maybe some people don't need to go up the
00:05:43first mountain to realize they're somewhere they don't want to be. But for a lot of people, especially
00:05:46people that are driven and pushed toward excellence, I think they actually have to get there within,
00:05:51this was my story, right? Getting one of the biggest events companies in the UK running
00:05:58an organization that is cool and fun. And I got to define and I was the boss and everybody knew me
00:06:03and there's some wealth and some status and some freedom and there's girls.
00:06:10Everybody's telling me that this is something that I should be happy about and satisfied with.
00:06:14And for some reason, it didn't feel right. And the only way to try and find something new is to
00:06:20let go of something that everybody else is telling you is something that you should want.
00:06:25Local maximums. And it's the furthest up they can see up the mountain. And then when you get to that
00:06:33new local maximum, you have a different perception than they do and you can see the next peak and they
00:06:36can't. Some people don't need to go up the peak, but I think a lot of people do.
00:06:40Yeah. I wonder if those are different types of lonely chapter. I wonder if there's a different type
00:06:45of a lonely chapter of letting go. I kind of hold that thought. I really wanted to talk to you about
00:06:51the difference between having fallen off and having never made it. And having fallen off a lot of the
00:06:58time is somebody going from one local maxima to another local maxima that's higher or to a global
00:07:03maxima. Like sure, some fall offs occur not through choice, but that evolution might be somebody going,
00:07:11my priorities have changed and you are judging me on the scorecard of the game that I used to play.
00:07:17I'm not bothered about that anymore. Oh, that guy fell off.
00:07:21Man, I have two completely different thoughts about this. One is short and then I'll make the longer
00:07:29one. I realized when I was writing something a while ago that when you have no evidence or no proof
00:07:40that you're going to be successful, everyone will ask why you're working so hard. And then once you win,
00:07:46everyone asks why you're working so hard. You know, that was the Mark Manson one that he said,
00:07:51we'll tell you how lucky you are. Oh, is it? And you liked the idea of,
00:07:56no, they just ask you again why you're working so hard. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it was a
00:08:01funny remix. Yeah. And, um, and it was just a realization that people were literally always going
00:08:05to ask me why I was working so hard or why you were working so hard and why are you pursuing your goals?
00:08:09Because they're saying that your goals are not the goals that I would pursue and to which you would
00:08:13respond. Yes. The second thing was, um, I was, I was talking to an entrepreneur, at least successful,
00:08:21and they were saying, Hey, I really want, um, I want to dominate my market. I want to put everyone
00:08:25else out of business, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I, as somebody who has put people out of business,
00:08:31um, I will say that it doesn't come with parades and it doesn't come with balloons and it's not
00:08:38Goliath versus Goliath, because by the time you actually beat them into true submission, it's really
00:08:43like a giant beating a child because it's almost never a true fair fight and there are no rules and
00:08:50there is no referee and no one determines you the winner. And so what ends up happening is you get
00:08:55bigger and bigger and bigger, and then they shrink into a relevance. And then you see a Facebook post that
00:08:59says that they've changed their goals and that they actually discern that this isn't as important to
00:09:02them as it once was. And I think that one, that's okay. Um, two, it's not satisfying at all. Three,
00:09:11when you see that the jobs and the employees that actually worked at the company that were just,
00:09:16you know, living their lives and have kids and all of a sudden, like this idea of this conquest
00:09:21that you're going to beat someone feels significantly less rewarding. Um, that's glorious.
00:09:27A hundred percent. And I used to, I used to joke that when losers lose, they change their goals rather
00:09:37than say they lost. And I think it's more that they might have at some point while they began to lose,
00:09:48maybe it's the first quarter or the second quarter of the game, they're down by a few points.
00:09:52They might have some awareness of what it would take in order to win, but they determined at that
00:09:56point that the trade was no longer worth it. And I think that that's okay. And I would say that that
00:10:01has, that is a shift that I've had personally is that if someone no longer determines that the price
00:10:07is worth it, then amazing. They've made a, they've made a conscious decision. What I, what I, I would say
00:10:13I advocate against is having that decision made for you because you weren't conscious of the decision
00:10:18being made to begin with and then just basically accepting it. Most people have no idea where their
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00:11:27you made it to the end of a clip and the full length episode is available right here. Go on.

Key Takeaway

Achieving exceptional success requires the willingness to endure isolation and rejection while actively disregarding the preferences of the average person whose life does not align with your intended path.

Highlights

  • Most people are obese, likely to be divorced, and have less than $1,000 in the bank, making their advice unreliable for those seeking extraordinary results.

  • Pursuing high-level endeavors requires ignoring the approval of individuals who do not possess the lifestyle or outcomes one desires.

  • Rejection often manifests as subtle exclusionary behavior or demeaning jokes rather than direct, explicit disagreement.

  • Successfully reaching a new level of accomplishment often triggers a new period of loneliness as one’s previous social circle no longer aligns with new goals.

  • People who lose in competitive domains often reframe their goals to avoid admitting defeat, rather than continuing to pay the price for success.

Timeline

Ignoring average opinions

  • Extraordinary goals require actions that ordinary people often perceive as excessive or wrong.
  • Attempting to align life decisions with the preferences of the masses reliably leads to common outcomes, such as financial instability or poor physical health.
  • Approval from people who lack the life you desire is inherently devalued.

The average person acts as an anchor to keep others at an average level. Many peers may desire to see others fail because it validates the safer, less ambitious choices they made. True progress begins when an individual stops seeking validation from those who have not achieved the specific life results they are targeting.

The necessity of loneliness

  • The path to excellence is inherently lonely because most people will disagree with unconventional choices.
  • Rejection frequently takes the form of social exclusion or demeaning remarks rather than outright defiance.
  • Enduring the pain of isolation is a required trade-off for leaving behind a life that no longer feels authentic.

Societal norms often stigmatize loneliness as a flaw, but in the context of large-scale endeavors, the lack of agreement from the crowd serves as a signal of differentiation. Transitioning from a state of dissatisfaction to a path of transformation requires enduring the discomfort of not being understood by one's current social group.

The cycles of success and the second mountain

  • Reaching a level of success that others deem sufficient does not prevent the return of the 'lonely chapter' when pursuing a higher summit.
  • Local maximums represent the limit of what one can see from a lower vantage point.
  • Moving toward a new goal often requires letting go of accomplishments that others believe one should be happy with.

High achievers often find that even after reaching a status of wealth, freedom, or authority, the result does not align with their actual desires. Choosing to pursue the next peak involves redefining priorities, which leads to being judged by the standards of a game the individual is no longer playing.

The reality of competition and loss

  • Constant inquiries about why one works so hard persist regardless of whether one is currently winning or losing.
  • Dominating a market is rarely a fair fight, and the eventual 'victory' over others often feels empty and lacks the gratification of a formal ceremony.
  • Changing goals is a valid conscious choice, but it is problematic when the decision is made unconsciously as a default response to losing.

The assumption that beating competitors is a glorious, rule-bound battle is often false. Instead, it involves observing others shrink into irrelevance while realizing that the cost of the victory may no longer be worth the trade. Conscious decision-making is essential to distinguish between a strategic change in direction and a retreat disguised as a change in preference.

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