Why You Can't Trust What Successful People Say

As an accountability coach, I regularly have the following conversation:

Me: "To achieve your ambitious goal, you must work hard for several years."

My client: "But influencer X / business guru Y / my uber-successful friend Z says that this is not necessary. There is this really smart way of doing things that nobody has thought of yet blah blah..."

This is tricky for me — how do you argue with what more successful people claim?

But there are three good reasons why you should be skeptical of what uber-successful people say.

I. They Have Forgotten

The crazy thing about success — you completely forget what it was like in the beginning.

You forget about the string of small and big disasters. You forget about the money troubles. You forget how lonely you felt, how your relationships suffered, and how often you considered throwing in the towel.

All of this completely fades into the background as the years go by. We start to glorify these early days, how exciting and much fun they were.

I have caught myself doing this. Asked about the early days of my former MMA gym, I quickly started to reminisce. But the truth is, it was hell for two years straight.

Thus, be skeptical of anyone telling happy success stories.

II. They Are Fishing for Admiration

If I had a bit of success (or a lot), it is extremely tempting to show it off. And it is even more tempting to make it look effortless.

Because if I was able to pull it off effortlessly, and all of you goofuses are not, that makes me a bit smarter than you, doesn't it? And you might want to listen to what I have to say, no?

It's great — you can subtly stick it to people, while simultaneously bathing in their admiration.

Even the most well-meaning of the successful will sometimes give in to this allure.

III. They Are Trying To Sell You Something

This one we have all experienced at some point. Somebody is trying to sell their secret course for overnight success.

We know we should not fall for this, yet, it sparks our curiosity every time. "Maybe there is a shortcut after all? No harm in listening, right?"

And this gets to the core of it. It's not the sleazy salesperson or the famous attention seeker that is to blame. It is us. We keep hoping that there is an easy way, that we can somehow skip the hard work.

But there are no hacks. And the sooner you embrace that truth, you can start achieving.

This is of course not all successful people. Some are great sources of knowledge and realism. They will give it to you straight, yet still encourage you to go for it. When you meet somebody like that, treasure them.

Until next week,

Niels