Nice post on the forum demonstrating what it takes to succeed in business. Any business. Here is the list, and my reflections on each. Pretty much each of these notes are philosophies I’ve been preaching for years….

Consider these cheat codes.

> 1. seriously just choose one thing
> 2. it’s going to be harder than you think
> 3. try hard enough and long enough that it becomes improbable to not succeed
> 4. can’t treat it like a hobby – gotta do the things you don’t want to do, and do things when you don’t want to do them
> 5. iterate until iterating costs more time/money/energy than the increase in benefit from iterating
> 6. you don’t have to be perfect, you already know enough to start
> 7. provide value to others, and really figure out what that looks like, not what you think it looks like or should look like
> 8. act fast
> 9. there really is no ceiling. Big dreams and goals aren’t crazy, but short timelines can be.
> 10. there are no excuses, even in the face of things you can’t control, because there are enough things you can control.

> 1️⃣ Seriously just choose one thing

Focus. Don’t fall into the trap of the Tekel syndrome. Multiple businesses suck; don’t try it unless you already sold a business for gazillions. When one wants to become a piano maestro, you also don’t learn the tuba and the flute.

> 2️⃣ It’s going to be harder than you think

All business is hard. SaaS, coffee shop, window washing, SpaceX … doesn’t FN matter. HARD. This is why you pick ventures that will change your life. Make sure effort is rewarded, handsomely; time, money, or both.

Link: [https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/stop-cheating-yourself-and-earn-what-youre-worth.109957/](https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/stop-cheating-yourself-and-earn-what-youre-worth.109957/)

> 3️⃣ Try hard enough and long enough that it becomes improbable to not succeed

Entrepreneurs are problemologists. When one gives up after the first few problems, one refuses to be an entrepreneur. I see BPH1994 falling into this trap as he expects business to be problem-less. Reality: business is one problem after another. He who solves them quicker and without batting an eye wins.

> 4️⃣ Can’t treat it like a hobby – gotta do the things you don’t want to do, and do things when you don’t want to do them

Again, business is hard. It’s more about doing what you hate than what you love. Yet that struggle pays off in spades. I’m teaching myself jump rope tricks. Do you think I love getting whipped in the back of the head as I fail a trick? Do you think I like having welts on my neck? It sucks. The joy comes from mastering the trick, but only after 100 whippings.

> 5️⃣ Iterate until iterating costs more time/money/energy than the increase in benefit from iterating

Act, assess, adjust.

> 6️⃣ You don’t have to be perfect, you already know enough to start

Stop thinking, start doing. Then act, assess, adjust. Every adjustment leads you in the direction of better, which is one step toward the elusive perfection. Move toward perfection—knowing you'll never get there—and everything works out.

> 7️⃣ Provide value to others, and really figure out what that looks like, not what you think it looks like or should look like

Ah yes, the market doesn’t give a shit about your ideas. It only reacts to them. The market is the ultimate judge/jury of your value. They vote with their money. You can have a great campaign, but if no one votes for you—something is wrong, and what you thought was value wasn’t. Adjust … messaging? product? audience?

> 8️⃣ Act fast

The quicker one iterates through Act, Assess, Adjust, the quicker improvement occurs, which means the quicker value is created and delivered.

> 9️⃣ There really is no ceiling. Big dreams and goals aren’t crazy, but short timelines can be.

Find where the scale is. Find the bottleneck, and solve it.

> 🔟 There are no excuses, even in the face of things you can’t control, because there are enough things you can control

Yep. For every variable you cannot control, there are likely 10 you can. Change the inputs, change the outputs.

The forum is dripping with revolutionary AI discussion.
Here are a few links to get your gears grinding.

💰AI IS REVOLUTIONARY, BEYOND CARS, ELECTRICITY, and HUMAN FLIGHT
Will you take advantage or be left behind?
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/your-redemption-and-second-chance-is-here-will-you-take-it.119099/

💰AI CHAT - DISCUSS AI WITH FASTLANERS (NOW 20+ PAGES)
Chat about AI developments, insights, best-practices.
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/the-artificial-intelligence-ai-random-chat-thread.116192/

💰AI INVESTMENTS - ASYMMETRIC RETURNS, SET IT AND FORGET IT?
Some companies will be positioned to generate asymmetric returns in the next 3-7 years. Where can $10,000 turn into $1,000,000? Here's a list.
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/fortune-awaits-artificial-intelligence-investments%E2%80%94where-to-make-your-bets.119133/

💰AI AGENTS - ARE YOU BEHIND IF YOU'RE NOT USING IT?
AI agents are already replacing employees, VAs, and contractors. Keep pace.
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/the-ai-agents-thread-if-youre-not-using-it-now-does-it-mean-youre-behind.119179/unread

💰AI RESOURCES and HOT FINDS!
Find a valuable AI website that specializes in a certain function?
Want to see a list? Here ya go:
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/ai-artificial-intelligence-resources-websites-and-hot-finds.119157/

PS: The first post is always viewable, and no subscription is required.

You have the power to do anything.

Unlimited Power! ⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡

But power isn't your issue -- the issue is you haven't found a good reason to use it.

You haven't found a priority to change your status quo, so the status quo ALWAYS WINS.

Average Joe: I can't quit doomscrolling or playing video games.
Me: Oh, if I gave you a million dollars to quit for one month, cold turkey, would you quit?
Average Joe: Oh yea! Sign me up!
Me: So you DO have the power to quit, you just haven't found a good enough reason to do so.


Average Joe: I can't start a business.
Me: If you had to earn $1000 by next month, or be killed, would you find a way?
Average Joe: OMG, yes.
Me. So you DO have the power to do it, you just haven't found a good enough reason to do so.

In other words, the power IS within you.

You just refuse to access it because you don't have a strong enough reason to access it.

So anytime you find yourself rationalizing inaction, ask...

"If I were to be awarded $1M doing or stopping X, would I find a way?"
"If I had to do X or die, would I find a way?"

THE POWER IS IN YOU. ⚡⚡⚡⚡

This might help...

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/the-problem-purpose-paradigm-fire-unlimited-motivation-and-laser-focus.114162/

THE GATEKEEPERS ARE DEAD!

Never before has unprecedented leverage been at your fingertips. Technology used to be gated, it is no longer true, and people barely even notice.

Have you noticed?

Full article... (ungated and free)

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/don%E2%80%99t-learn-to-code-think-like-a-technostacker-instead.119382/

The AI Job Apocalypse is Coming... Are You Ready?

https://preview.mailerlite.io/preview/364132/emails/163812999570655225

Funny I just commented on passion last week, and how it follows effort, it doesn't lead.

Research agrees.
Schwarzenegger agrees.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/dont-follow-your-passion-schwarzenegger-agrees-with-mj.120479/

Nancy Pelosi's fortune-making secret laid bare: https://preview.mailerlite.io/preview/364132/emails/165726224258172469

There's a great passive income discussion at the forum (sort of ties into the Pelosi strategy I posted) -- here's a link.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/is-passive-income-less-attainable-than-before.120728/

For those without a subscription, I'll try to post some key points.

More...

Beware of self-imposed prisons... 2 boxes of BS.

https://preview.mailerlite.io/preview/364132/emails/167074353573266449

I posted how impressed I was with Lovable for fast deployment of websites, landing pages, and apps thru AI prompting.

(Sidenote: I tried Claude to code and it was a 3 in terms of value, Lovable more like a 9)

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/mind-blown-lovable-for-no-code-website-development-and-apps.121358/

These shovel sellers (Like Lovable, Supabase, Cursor) will make billions.

However, as I keep mentioning to everyone who will listen, there is a WINDOW of opportunity here that will last a few years where the early adopters can also make millions, even digging for gold. That window might be 2 years, 3, or 5. That's the unknown.

Ultimately, this discussion brought in the concept of CONTROL and CENTS.

Yes, this ultimately becomes an issue.

However, as I keep mentioning, there is a WINDOW where it won't matter.

Remember blogging way back in 2010?

Violated control.

But the early adopters made millions.

Remember self-publishing frenzy back in 2015?

Violated control.

But the early adopters made millions.

Remember Amazon FBA?

Violated control.

But the early adopters made millions.

We are in the phase were the early adopters will make millions.

💰The next 3 years of your life can define the next 50. 💰

If you are unsure of where to start, MARKETING is becoming the SUPERPOWER. ⚡️⚡️⚡️

Because if execution is as simple as AI proficiency in a tool like Lovable, Cursor, etc, then MARKETING will separate the winners from the losers.

If you aren't willing to learn MARKETING, ADVERTISING, and buying psychology, you'd better be prepared to hire someone who is!

If you think like a winner, practice like a winner, persevere like a winner, ignore the haters like a winner, you eventually become a winner.

It doesn't get any simpler than that.

Have a great weekend everyone!

MJ

FROM THE FASTLANE NEWSLETTER

Uncertain Certainty: How to Make Decisions Like a Casino Boss...

In life, you always have two choices: to think like a casino mogul or like the chump gambler dropping cash in a slot machine. One lives in a penthouse with a butler, the other in a rented apartment with a landlord who doesn't fix leaky toilets.

Casinos make billions of dollars by mastering one idea: Uncertain Certainty.

Here’s the micro-view (the lie): Your friend Billy goes to Vegas, hits a lucky streak, and walks away with $2,000 playing dollar slots. He brags on Facebook, thinks he’s a genius, and “beat the system.” But you know better.

Billy's win is the Uncertainty of Certainty.

Here’s the macro-view (the truth): While Billy’s Facebook post gets many likes, you didn’t hear about the nine other Billys who crawled home with empty pockets and a nasty hangover. They didn’t post on Facebook. Billy’s “win” is just a short-term statistical blip, and survivor’s bias makes it seem more obvious than it really is.

Continue....
https://preview.mailerlite.io/preview/364132/emails/170803618679621581

The only place a PROCESS can be witnessed as an EVENT!!

Process is power. It is your divine human power.

Unfortunately, most humans neglect this power and seek events—essentially running their lives like animals.

No animal can rise to 1000X their personal power.
Only humans can.

What separates humans from the animal kingdom is our ability to engage in a concerted, conscious process that can last weeks, months, and even years. Animals cannot engage in processes outside of their hard-coded instincts. A beaver builds a dam because it’s programmed to. A bird constructs a nest because genetics demand it.

Humans, however, hold the power of choice, which can be part of a systematic process that compounds into a force far greater than its parts.

Embrace the process, and it becomes a human superpower.

Think about the Amazon empire. It’s a product of Jeff Bezos’ process.

Elon Musk—love or hate him—his rockets, EV, and robot ventures are monuments to his process, surpassing the singular power of one individual.

No animal can rise to 1000X their personal power.

Only humans can.

And the process is the key.

But few ever use the process to build a great life.

Instead, they let their feral brains run the show, chasing an easy dopamine hit. They chase the event.

This refusal to engage in process is why mediocrity is the norm and excellence is the outlier. Process is what creates outlier success. Process is 99% thinking.

So, let me ask you a question, and I want you to be honest:

What have you worked on for months? For years?
What have you trained on?
What have you learned?
What forces have you compounded?

Is the answer—NOTHING?

If so, that means you are not process-driven. It means you are abandoning a human superpower to engage life like a common house pet, reacting to stimuli rather than creating your future.
Events Are Visible, Process is Hidden

I’ve been talking about Event vs. Process for years.

It is the fundamental divide that separates the winners from the losers.

Winners understand that process is the keystone; losers worship the event.

▶️ The Process is the invisible backstory that no one sees, acknowledges, or applauds.
▶️ The Event is the trophy and headlines that makes the normies salivate.

The process is the three grueling years spent writing that book you’ve dreamed of; the event is having a best-seller that makes people envious of your “luck.”

The process is the 18 years of blood, sweat, and torn ligaments the pro athlete endures; the event is the $100M contract that hits the headlines.

How does this divergence and disrespect happen?

The problem is visibility.

⚡⚡Events are visible. Process is invisible. ⚡⚡

Because the process is invisible, society ignores it. We only see the flashbulb moments.

In fact, it is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to witness a process, because it involves hundreds, sometimes thousands, of microscopic decisions. How can you “see” a process?

You can’t… except in one unique, rare case.

You can only see a guy sitting at a desk. You can only see a woman lifting a weight. Fact: Most of my decisions are part of a process. For example, TODAY ONLY here are some of my decisions.

--- Practice Piano — PROCESS.
--- Jump Rope and Lift Weights — PROCESS
--- HBOT 90-minute sessions — PROCESS.
--- Edit final rough draft of new book — PROCESS

Solitary choices? Nope, they are part of a process. How many decisions are you making daily, that are part of a process?

Events are visible.
Process is invisible.

CONFESSIONS OF A "CART SNOOP"

Here’s an unique exception: Process can be witnessed by proxy. This why I’m the consummate “Cart Snoop.” When I’m at the grocery store, I’m always snooping in other people’s shopping carts. I’m judging what’s on the belt.

Why? Because the shopping cart is one of the few places on earth where a process can be witnessed as an event.

99% of the time, the contents of the cart match the person buying it.

If the cart is loaded with processed food, frozen junk, sugary sodas, and pastries, the person pushing it is obese and likely two Ding-Dongs away from diabetes.

If the cart is stacked with fruits, veggies, lean meats, and unprocessed fuel, the person is fit and trim....

STORY CONTINUES ON THE FORUM (UNGATED, FREE)
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/sad-the-human-superpower-youre-likely-ignoring.121819/