12-Hour Work Day — Ep003: Work Ethic

• Channel: Alex Hormozi
• Video: Watch on YouTube
• Tags: hormozi 12 hour work day ep003

Overview

Alex Hormozi on why most people are soft, lack work ethic, and how to get the highest return on your effort by doing activities that lead to your desired outcomes.

Key Takeaways

• It is so easy to beat people today. they are so soft. they have no work ethic. no one gets stick with anything. everyone’s distracted. they’re a social media. they’re kind of notifications. because they can’t stick with shit. they
• As hard as you possibly can, then the only real output we have is who we become along the way. the best days of my life are ones when i had nothing left in the tank. and so then the
• Do is bend the knee to their hate and fit back into the conformity because it’s comfortable and it’s warm because you’ve been on that road. and you know exactly where it leads. and i know that’s not where you
• Think about it. people always are looking for the shortcut, but you have to accept a very simple truth, which is that the shortcut never actually takes you to the place that you’re trying to go. and it’s because it’s
• Just a thing that everyone does and it’s not really a thing anymore. like we learned how to tie knots. that was a big breakthrough and then everyone ties their shoes and they’re like, oh my god, let me show
• Don’t have shortcuts. but things is so many people waste so much time. they literally waste longer than it would have taken the hard way or the only way to get there in search of the easy way that doesn’t
• That you signed up for this. but then again, you figured that it would be hard. and then you reminded that this is what hard feels like. and so you keep going because it’s the only choice you have. i
• Than it is. and i actually think there’s a big problem with this. so just kind of like, eskimos have like seven different words for snow. i feel like i should have like 25 different words for hard, right? like
• Hate doing, that you’re not good at. there’s risk hard of the fact that you could lose something that you currently have, right? that you have the chance of losing what you currently have. you have the uncertainty hard of
• Hard, it’s a new seventh type of snowflake hard. then you’re like, oh, this is different. but it’s not. it’s just that the thing that you grow comfortable with, then you conquer, and then you’re exposed to a new level.
• Must be nice. oh, that happened overnight is because every time you fail, no one cares and no one sees. but when you finally win, people take notice. it’s credited. but it’s the only time they notice is when you
• The fact that you fail is ridiculous because they’re barely going to notice when you succeed. when you’re growing in a business, it’s very painful. when you’re stagnating in a business in your plateau, you don’t know what to do.
• It’s just a signal that we are alive. and so in thinking about that, rather than pain is a problem, it is a signal that i’m breathing. and then becomes irrelevant. in the beginning, you’re like, i feel bad. and
• And you start hyperchurfing it. but i think the ultimate version of the hyperchurfing when the muscle becomes a 10 in or it just becomes fused. because when you don’t even consider how you feel, it’s just not a thought.
• So if you can just make it through this, everything else is downhill. it’s not that the things that the dragons are gonna slay or gonna get bigger, they are. but you become so much more equipped to slay them

Transcript

It is so easy to beat people today. They are so soft. They have no work ethic. No one gets stick with anything. Everyone’s distracted. They’re a social media. They’re kind of notifications. Because they can’t stick with shit. They can’t say no. Hard work is the goal. And so it’s not like work hard so that X. Because as soon as you have a so that, then the X is the thing. But if the goal is to work as hard as you possibly can, then the only real output we have is who we become along the way. The best days of my life are ones when I had nothing left in the tank. And so then the goal becomes to empty the tank, not what where I drive, but just to drive the car as hard as I possibly can. The sign of success is the hate that you get along the way. And what you can’t do is bend the knee to their hate and fit back into the conformity because it’s comfortable and it’s warm because you’ve been on that road. And you know exactly where it leads. And I know that’s not where you want to be. It’s like the best way to guarantee to not have the life that you want is to do it everyone else is doing. Unless you want everyone else has with no one, which no one does. So think about it. People always are looking for the shortcut, but you have to accept a very simple truth, which is that the shortcut never actually takes you to the place that you’re trying to go. And it’s because it’s rarely one big thing. There are a lot of shortcuts that exist in life. And everyone already uses those. And so whenever an actual shortcut gets found, all humans immediately do it and it no longer becomes a shortcut is just a thing that everyone does and it’s not really a thing anymore. Like we learned how to tie knots. That was a big breakthrough and then everyone ties their shoes and they’re like, oh my god, let me show you the shortcut to this. It’s like, oh you tie, like oh my god, everyone does it and it’s like not a thing anymore, right? And so all the things that you want to have that most people don’t have, don’t have shortcuts. But things is so many people waste so much time. They literally waste longer than it would have taken the hard way or the only way to get there in search of the easy way that doesn’t exist. And so the reality of this is that it’s usually a hundred small things that make days, weeks and months hard. It’s the never ending onslaught of shit. And then you remember after going through that onslaught of shit that you signed up for this. But then again, you figured that it would be hard. And then you reminded that this is what hard feels like. And so you keep going because it’s the only choice you have. I want to remind you that a lot of times what we imagine hard to be is different than how we experience hard. Because the nature of hard changes, too. And it’s more of a limitation in how we describe hardship than it is. And I actually think there’s a big problem with this. So just kind of like, Eskimos have like seven different words for snow. I feel like I should have like 25 different words for hard, right? Like the amount of things that you go through. There’s like lifestyle hard. Like okay, so there’s sacrifice hard of like you’re giving up things that you enjoy. There’s also like effort hard of like starting to do things that you hate doing, that you’re not good at. There’s risk hard of the fact that you could lose something that you currently have, right? That you have the chance of losing what you currently have. You have the uncertainty hard of the fact that you might be doing all of the sacrifice for nothing. There’s lots of different flavors of hard. And each one of them presents it different times. And for some reason, when it gets a new kind of hard, it’s a new seventh type of snowflake hard. Then you’re like, oh, this is different. But it’s not. It’s just that the thing that you grow comfortable with, then you conquer, and then you’re exposed to a new level. The reason the goal isn’t coming at you fast enough is because every person you’ve seen accomplish the goal, you only see it the moment they accomplish it. And the reason that it hurts so much when people are like must be nice. Oh, that happened overnight is because every time you fail, no one cares and no one sees. But when you finally win, people take notice. It’s credited. But it’s the only time they notice is when you actually win. And so to even further reinforce the point, the fact that everyone looks like an overnight success means that the 10 years where they sucked, no one saw. And so the fear that you have about people noticing the fact that you fail is ridiculous because they’re barely going to notice when you succeed. When you’re growing in a business, it’s very painful. When you’re stagnating in a business in your plateau, you don’t know what to do. It’s very painful. When you’re declining and you also don’t know what to do, it’s very painful. And so that means that all conditions of reality are painful. And so if pain is a prerequisite for reality, then it means it’s just a signal that we are alive. And so in thinking about that, rather than pain is a problem, it is a signal that I’m breathing. And then becomes irrelevant. In the beginning, you’re like, I feel bad. And then you think that that should away on the decision of whether you do the thing that you’re supposed to do. And then you start realizing that you can do the thing, even though you don’t feel good about it. And you start hyperchurfing it. But I think the ultimate version of the hyperchurfing when the muscle becomes a 10 in or it just becomes fused. Because when you don’t even consider how you feel, it’s just not a thought. You just keep, you just do it. I think a hopeful message that anyone can think about who’s in that hard period or in that start period is that it won’t get harder. Like this is the hardest part. And so if you can just make it through this, everything else is downhill. It’s not that the things that the dragons are gonna slay or gonna get bigger, they are. But you become so much more equipped to slay them back. And you have so many more allies. You have people in the stands cheering for you. You have the audience. You have all of these other things that are behind you. But at the beginning, it’s just you with a stick against a bear. And arguably, that fight is a harder fight to win than beating a dragon when you have a nuclear bomb and six nations behind you. And so it’s not even like the size of the hardship. It’s just also the resources and how few of them you have and how so much of the beginning is literally burning the one thing you have which is time because you have no leverage. You don’t have the money to pay other people to help you. You don’t have the resources to go like get someone to, no one can learn it for you. It’s like there’s a lot of the things that we care about a lot like, no one can work out for you. Doesn’t matter how much money you have, no one can learn skills for you. And so in the early days, it feels so painful because you look around to see who can help you and then you’re like, it’s me again. The skills that you develop along the way, like Steve Jobs learning calligraphy that then became apple fonts that transformed how we type. Those early days that little trench winning in the weeds, oftentimes gives you these huge advantages later on because you’ve more context than anyone else. And so rather than lament them and hate the fact that you’re going through it, remembering that these will be arrows that you put in the quiver that you’re gonna be using to slay the future bigger dragons. And so expecting it to be easy is what makes it much harder than it ever is. We all know the happiness formula, which is when this happens, I’ll be happy. Right, when X, I’ll be happy or if X, I’ll be happy. When I’m putting that work in and doing the reps, like that’s when I’m actually my most inflow and enjoying myself the most. And so it’s actually a lie that I’ve been telling myself that once the presentation goes well, I’ll feel good because in some ways now, I feel like when the presentation happens, I’ll be disappointed because I won’t get to do this anymore. I’ll have to find something else to pick as a target so that I can get back into my rocky cutscene. And so I think that that is taking some time, and I’ve gotten better at it. I really do think I’ve gotten a lot better at it. At least recognizing because the more times I’ve had W’s and then realized that right afterwards, I felt nothing. I had to think back of like, what are the things that I enjoyed most in my life? And it’s always in pursuit. And I’m like, well, then, why don’t I set something really big, really far so I can be in pursuit for the longest period of time possible? And that’s why I think a lot of people from the outside, they cast their expectations of life on a man and say, I wouldn’t live my life that way. You’re always working, you’re always doing these things. But it’s like, I’m actually always spending my time in pursuit because in pursuit is my button for enjoyment. One of the things for people who are not where they want to be is that they have pain, like, utils of pain. And I remember when I was starting out, I was looking for passion. I was looking for purpose. I was like, I just want to find something that I’m motivated by. But it’s the cat and the cheese. It’s like we’re looking for cheese, but we have all these cat behind us and all we have to do is look and remember that they’re behind us and chasing us. And so if you have the cat and you’re staying in your current situation, you’re being used by the cat, right? You’re being used by the business owner who, it doesn’t treat you well and is in this job, they don’t really want to be in, right? You’re being used by the situation of the context, of the relationship that you’re in with, the girl that you’re not that into, right? Versus saying, like, this is terrible. And because of this, terribleness, I now have something that I can run away from. And then rather than not looking at the knife or trying to take pain killers to not feel the pain, it’s completely so bring up, taking the knife and twisting it in your own heart and being like, I’m gonna do something about this. And I think that that’s what the heroes like, if we’re heroes in our own story, it’s not avoiding pain, it’s choosing from the very beginning of the alchemy, which is like you have

(Transcript truncated — full length available on YouTube)