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The Boring Secret Behind Every Successful Person | Masterminds Podcast EP20 · Masterminds Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey and welcome to the Masterminds Podcast.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Take this as your weekly check-in, you know, a place to reset and just reframe your thinking to have a growth mindset.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Our goal here is very simple to help you become the mastermind you're meant to be.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Richie Menta, and I'll be your guide.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: So the people who win in life are not those who run the fastest, they are not those who work the hardest.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: They are those who keep walking when everyone else has stopped running.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: They are the people who show up every single day.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because consistency beats intensity.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: You've probably said to yourself that you'll start next week, you know, I'll start working out on the first of this day, I will start reading on the first day of the week, I will start this, and you're always pushing things back to get momentum for a big effort.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: But big efforts aren't what gets you far.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's consistent daily steps that take you furthest.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's a reason they say a journey of a thousand leagues begins with a single step.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: One thing most people don't want to realize is that success is very boring.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: It looks as though success is exciting and you know somebody just woke up and had this, they did this, they achieved it, celebrity overnight.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't work like that.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Success is in the boring things that you do every single day.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: The habits that you exhibit every single day, waking up at the right time every day, exercising every day, planning your day always, doing meditation, doing yoga, reading, learning a skill, learning how to play the guitar every day, using your paintbrush every single day, working on your finances every single day.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: These boring steps, as mundane as they seem, compound to make you successful.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about the compound effect.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so many people underestimate the true value of compound effects.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: The compound effect just basically explains that when you do the same small task over a long period of time, it grows exponentially, becoming something massive, which you wouldn't have had the momentum to do from the beginning.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: The thing about the compound effect is it goes both ways.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Same with consistency.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: You are either building up good habits, which are leading to good character, or building up bad habits, which is leading to a bad character.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: So that small cookie you had after dinner, which is irrelevant, will grow from being one small cookie to one cookie a day to getting you diabetes.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: That exercise that you skipped, which is inconsequential on its own, will now build up to four weeks where you haven't exercised and lead to you having bad health.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it goes the same way the other way too.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: That time you chose your health over eating something that's not good for you.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: That time you chose to save your money instead of buying that new purse you didn't need.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: That time you chose your sanity instead of going to get in that argument that wasn't going to benefit you in any way.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: All these compound to make you a better person.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: You go from saving one city or one dollar a day to now suddenly having 500,000 in your saving accounts.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people keep asking, how do I get rich?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Getting rich is the most simple thing in the world, but it's not easy.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because getting rich isn't about the maximum effort that you put to get something done, it's about the efforts that you put every single time to stay consistent.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: To explain this, let me use Ronald Reed as an example.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Ronald was a gas station worker and a janitor for years.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody just saw him as a simple man who wasn't living any extraordinary life.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: So they were amazed when at his will reading he left$8 million to his beneficiaries.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: And everybody was wondering, where did he get$8 million from?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Ronald Reed actually amassed a fortune because he kept investing small amounts of money from the time that he started working.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: He never had a large amount of money to invest.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: But because he was able to invest for so long, he actually really enjoyed the last years of his life.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: He got to live that life that most people are dreaming of and are not able to live because he understood the effects of consistency over time.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Another example is Dave Brail's Ford.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: So he became the manager or the coach for the British cycling team.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the thing: by the time he became the coach, the team had gone for so long without winning anything.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: So there was a lot of pressure for him to succeed.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: But instead of looking at the big effort he was going to do, that one big thing you do, that would change the team.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: He gave them a simple idea and said, every single day, let's improve something small in the team.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: So every day they would take one small task and get that done to the best of their ability.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: So today they are changing the socks of all the cyclists to make sure it's the most effective socks.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: The next day, they are checking the wheels of all the bicycles to make sure each bicycle is in perfect shape.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: They just kept tackling one small problem after the other.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: And what happened is as this compounded over time, they now became an excellent team and went 12 years consistently of winning trophies.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't tackle a big problem.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't look at it as let's overhaul the whole team, change everybody, change this.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: No, because that maximum effort won't get it done.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: He rather did it step by step over time and achieved long-term success.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Another thing about consistency is it builds confidence with yourself.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, one of the most important things that we sometimes overlook is how we define ourselves, how we feel about ourselves is very, very important.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Now, let's say you want to work out, let's say you want to be fit, and you wake up today and you say, I'm tired, I'll do it tomorrow.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Then two days later, ah, Charlie, I have a headache, I'm not going to work out today.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: What you are now starting to tell yourself all the time is you can't even trust yourself to keep promises.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because you made a promise to yourself to get fit.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: But what happens is when you say you are going to do something and you manage to do it consistently, you build that confidence and trust in yourself.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: You understand that you have your best interest at heart more than anybody.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: And in that way, you walk around feeling proud, feeling confident, knowing you are who you say you are.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: There's a thing about self-discipline, right?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Just look at how easy it is for you to do something when someone in authority tells you to do it.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: When your boss tells you to do something, you do it quickly.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: When your parents tell you to do something, you do it instantly.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: If you're in school and your teacher is telling you, finish this paper, you finish the paper instantly.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: But when you tell yourself to do something, then it's so difficult to complete.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: When you are doing that project for yourself, it's so difficult to show up and do it the way you know you need to do it.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: When your boss is on vacation, then suddenly finishing your tasks is so stressful because nobody is monitoring you and supervising you for you to do it.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: You go to the gym, gym instructor tells you 10 more reps, 10 more reps, and you're going.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now you are home.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: And you stop.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: The only reason is because you respect the authority of the person that you are listening to.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are not being able to be disciplined for yourself, then you don't respect your own authority.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: You don't respect yourself enough to listen to yourself.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: And this is why you must aim for consistency to build a compound effect that will make you respect yourself over time.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Let's use the workout as an example.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to work out, you haven't worked out in eight months, nine months, and the first day, you do all you walk for one hour, you know, bench press 50 times, you do a hundred push-ups, a hundred sit-ups in that first day.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: What's going to happen the next day?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: You'll be too weak.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: You'll be too weak and you say, Charlie, my body hurt.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I can do this.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: So the second day you won't do it.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: The third day you won't do it.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: By the fourth day, you have unintentionally told your brain that you can't even rely on yourself.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: And you just spiral downwards.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: If you decided that that first day, let me just take a walk.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a while, my body's not used to exercising.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'll just take a walk, a 20-minute walk.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: You come back, the next day, let me make it a 40-minute walk.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: You keep doing that, then you add press-ups, then you add sit-ups, you add bench press, then you're growing, then you sign up for the gym, then now you become a regular person in the gym.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: The next thing you see, in four to five years, you are in the best physical condition you've ever been.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because you could trust yourself.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: And one beautiful thing about trusting yourself when it comes to consistency of doing things in small steps is you know the brain likes patterns.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: And let's be honest, our brain is always looking for comfort.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: All the work that we are working hard, we are trying to work hard so that we can be comfortable.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're supposed to work out, if you're supposed to start a new habit, maybe you are learning how to play the guitar, and the first day, you play for two hours, and by the time you are done, your fingers are sore, your hands are sore from holding the guitar for so long and everything.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: The next time you are coming to play, you have trained your brain to associate playing the guitar with suffering.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: You have trained your brain to feel like it can't even trust you to make the decision that enough is enough.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'll finish rehearsing for the day, I'll continue tomorrow.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: But when you decide to play the guitar, to learn the guitar, and every day for the first week, you only play for 20 minutes just to get in the rhythm and start understanding the guitar.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: What happens is your brain gets excited.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: The next time you say you want to play the guitar, it's releasing dopamine.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's letting you get hyped up so you can go play the guitar.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: And now your brain also knows, for instance, on the day you are too sick to play, and you are telling yourself, I'll be disciplined and play.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Your brain knows that you are responsible with yourself enough to stop when you can't.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: So it will give you more encouragement to go.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: You guys don't underestimate the brain because let me tell you something funny.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: These three hormones are the three hormones that are released by your brain to give you happiness.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Do you understand what that means?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: I saw a comedian say something so profound.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: So your brain has everything you need to make you happy.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's just deciding when to release it and when to keep it.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Your brain is that powerful.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Your mind is everything.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes when you're building habits, you are trying to start a new life, you need to negotiate with your mind.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Let your mind know that, yo, yo, yo, bro, I got you.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Everything I'm doing is for you in the long run.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: And it will keep releasing those hormones and keep you on the right track.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Since we are on the topic of the mind, neuroscience has confirmed that repeating habits and patterns actually makes it rewires your brain to make these habits a part of your life.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, studies show that it takes 66 days to form a habit, which means being consistent over 66 days, doing something small, is much better than doing something with all your aggression for five days straight.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to make walking a part of your life, it's better to take a 15-minute walk every day for 66 days than it is to run a marathon that first day for one week straight and stop because you're burnt out.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, since we are talking about habits, there's something you should know.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: My favorite thing in the world, excellence.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: It happens to be a habit.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Excellence is not a destination.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's not something that you find one time.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody was excellent once.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Excellence is something you build, you grow, you develop, and you consistently become excellent.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, one thing I say about myself is everything I know how to do, I'm excellent at it.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I can say this confidently.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Every single thing I can do, I'm excellent at it.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm not excellent, then it means I don't know how to do it at all.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: I can list about 10 things that most people can do that I don't know how to do at all.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: But what I know how to do, I will be excellent at it.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because to me, I am excellent.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, let me go a step higher.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm awesome.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone who knows me knows that I'm awesome like that.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: You need to build excellence as a habit.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because guess what?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Mediocrity is also a habit.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: When you are that person who does small, you know, oh, it's okay.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: We'll take it like that.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, they know they can do better, but it's fine, we'll take it like that.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: You also build a habit of being very okay with average and mediocre.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: You have to be consistent with everything that you do.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: If you say you are an excellent person, make sure when you cook, your cooking is excellent.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: When you are playing video games, you are an excellent video game player.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Every single thing you do, build it as a habit.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: And what that starts to do is it starts to raise your own expectations of yourself.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: The next task that you are doing, you know you need to be excellent because you are an excellent person.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas most people are okay with it's fine.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: If I don't even do well, then it's fine.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: And that also becomes a habit that you will maintain.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: One thing that I personally feel is really making people choose intensity over consistency is the fact that social media especially, I mean all media, but especially social media, celebrates intensity.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that's because we only post the highlights of our life on social media.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Look at me right now.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: You're watching me on this podcast, you're looking at all this and thinking, each Pauldell.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: But the truth is, I've been working towards this for a long time.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: I had the idea to do Masterminds podcast over two years ago, and I didn't even start because I was building towards it.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: I started with social media content, I started by learning more, I started by growing, and then when it reached a point where I have advanced in it, I started the podcast.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: So you may be sitting there seeing the highlights of this and thinking, wow, this guy is just great.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: But I didn't get here overnight.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: That person who you are watching who just reached 1 million followers didn't get there overnight.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: They consistently posted that edit that you are seeing with special effects that just look so smooth.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know how long they tried?
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know how many times they got it wrong?
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: How many times they shot on green screen and the lighting wasn't good enough so you could see the lines around them, how many times they tried to fast forward something and the frame rate wasn't right, so it wasn't looking good.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: They tried over and over again.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: But because we only show you the highlights and the beautiful part, then everybody's excited.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Let's use one Ghanaian artist I always look at is Kimpaluta.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: I know so many people who watch Kimpaluta and say, hey Charlie, I won't be like Kimpaluta.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm inspired by him.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: See the way he just drops some song.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: No, it blows overnight.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: But Kimpaluta has mentioned the fact that he tried for 15 years.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't see that part.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: We just saw it when it was cooked and ready to be served.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: We celebrate hype over habits, we celebrate intensity over consistency.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: But the truth is, consistency is actually favored long term.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's why you have people who have one big moment and nothing happens for them after that.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because they put a big effort in that big moment and didn't have the consistency to create a compound effect that will make them bigger afterwards.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're watching me right now, I need you to re-look at your life right now.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Look at what you've been doing, look at where you've been putting too much effort when you could be achieving it with small steps.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Look at what you've believed can just happen overnight.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: When it's something that you can build gradually and effectively.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: Look at your life, draw who you want to be in the future, and write down the small steps that you can take every single day until you become that person.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: If you concentrate on consistency and the effects of compounding, you will definitely become a mastermind.