#1083 - Michael Smoak - 16 Brutal Life Lessons for Ambitious People
Key Takeaways
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Success often becomes the minimum level of performance
“I think people that have high standards assume that they should always win. They should always succeed. And that turns success from a cause for celebration into the minimum level of acceptable performance. Like, success simply becomes what's expected of you, and anything less than success would be a failure.”
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Ambition consistently outpaces reality's ability to satisfy it
“As you raise the bar, that means that you will always feel like you suck because your standards continually outstrip your ability to deliver them. And that's good in some ways because it keeps forcing you to progress, but it does mean that you live in this gap. You don't live in the gain, the comparison between where you are and where you are.”
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Workload is infinite and survives well beyond death
“There will never come a day where you have completed all of your tasks. I think about the fact that one day I'll die, and my email inbox will continue to accumulate messages. People will get pissed that I'm not replying to their emails, not knowing that I'm dead. It should feel liberating which is you're never going to get on top of it all.”
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Material success without spiritual fulfillment equals failure
“Tony Robbins says material success without spiritual fulfillment can feel like the ultimate failure. And that's why you get people at the top with all the money and the cars and the women and the success, and they feel empty inside, and they take their own life because they're depressed.”
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Service to others provides more fulfillment than status
“For me, I feel fulfilled if I'm serving others, and that's a really broad mission that can look a lot of different ways. It can be saying hello to Gerard, the guy I crossed the crosswalk with today outside of my building. It can be asking the barista how their day is going. It can be putting on a podcast with the intent of delivering a message that might make one of their lives better.”
Episode Description
Michael Smoak is a mindset coach, entrepreneur, and podcaster. What does it actually cost to live a great life? From the outside, top performers seem to have everything we want, but the story isn’t that simple. Behind every extraordinary life is a series of trade-offs, sacrifices, and unseen costs. So what is the true price of ambition, and are you willing to pay it? Expect to learn what high-performance actually looks like, what the number 1 fears that hold people back is and how to get over it, how to face and overcome your fears, why the path to being the best version of yourself should feel somewhat lonely, why most of the things you want in like has an opportunity cost attached to it, why you should always prioritize physical health and much more.. Sponsors: See discounts for all the products I use and recommend: https://chriswillx.com/deals Get up to 20% off Timeline powered by Mitopure (now at a lower price) at https://timeline.com/modernwisdom Get up to $50 off the RP Hypertrophy App at https://rpstrength.com/modernwisdom Get 35% off your first subscription on the best supplements from Momentous at https://livemomentous.com/modernwisdom Get 15% off your first order of my favourite Non-Alcoholic Brew at https://athleticbrewing.com/modernwisdom Extra Stuff: Get my free reading list of 100 books to read before you die: https://chriswillx.com/books Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic: https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom Episodes You Might Enjoy: #577 - David Goggins - This Is How To Master Your Life: lnkfi.re/SN-Goggins #712 - Dr Jordan Peterson - How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs: lnkfi.re/SN-Peterson #700 - Dr Andrew Huberman - The Secret Tools To Hack Your Brain: lnkfi.re/SN-Huberman - Get In Touch: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices