Here’s Why You Might Never Succeed

I can give you mediocre advice on almost anything. I have been consuming lots of resources and materials from the internet through ebooks, blogs, podcasts, videos and whatnot.

I am to the point where I can give you mediocre advice on business, social dynamics, marketing, life, psychology, philosophy, writing, programming, web design etc.
But really, have I succeeded on anyone of them? No. Not even Close.

All I can do is give mediocre advice through my consumption.

However, even if I haven’t succeeded on any one of those field, my advice works. It’s because I have learned those things from people best in the field. I’ll give you advice based on what I learned from them. If you take it, it’ll work.

If I do it, it’ll work. But I didn’t do it. Why? I don’t know. The Million Dollar Question by Sebastian Marshall might help you understand that to some level.

I would have succeeded in many fields by now if I took action on every thing that I’ve consumed.

The first step was the eliminate harmful consumption like TV and mindless surfing. I successfully eliminated it.

The second step was to consume only high quality materials from experts in the particular field. I was already comfortable doing that.

I missed the third step, which was to take massive action. I personally think this is where most of us get stuck. We consume lots of resources but don’t take any action.

This is where the successful and unsuccessful people change routes. This is what sets them apart.

Successful people take action. Unsuccessful people keep consuming and make themselves feel good that it’ll help them succeed in the future. But it’ll never happen.

If you consume very little but take massive action then you’re sure to succeed. And along the way, you’ll also learn underlying principles behind it, which will make it easier to consume and understand other high quality materials.

But like me, if you consume lots and lots of stuff and take no or very little action then you’re going nowhere. You’ll never succeed. All you’ll be able to do is give mediocre advice to everybody. That’s it! (Maybe it’ll work if you want to work as a consultant.)

It’s not that I’m not taking any action on my consumption. But the ratio is low compared to what I’m consuming. I’m consuming and taking action at the ratio of 10:1.

For me, the solution has been to only focus on one thing at a time. If I’m into business stuff, I’ll eliminate everything which isn’t business related. If I’m into social dynamics, I’ll eliminate everything which isn’t social dynamics related.

I tried learning ‘git‘ for a long time but always failed. So I eliminated everything and focused solely on ‘git’, and now I’m getting better at it.

Figure out what you’re taking action on or what’s that one thing you want to take action on. Maybe it’s business, maybe it’s writing, maybe it’s social dynamics. Whatever it is, just focus on that one and eliminate all other distractions. That way you can solely focus on it and improve yourself.

It’s always better to master one form of art than to have mediocre knowledge on all arts.

After you master one, you can always switch to the another.

Consume less and take massive action.

If I were to go back in time then this is one thing that I’d change. I would consume less stuff and take massive action on anything I’m consuming.

You’ve read this article till the end. If you just read this then it’ll serve you no purpose. So, what action are you going to perform on a thing you’ve been consuming?

Share in the comments below. Maybe you can hold yourself accountable that way and actually succeed.