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How to Get Ahead of 99% of People (Starting Today)

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How to Get Ahead of 99% of People (Starting Today)

Mark Manson,

5 min read
3 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

If you think your morning routine is going to help you achieve extreme success, think again. Becoming more successful than 99% of people is more nuanced than that. 

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7

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Recommendation

Self-help gurus pedal their wares – productivity hacks, constructive morning routines, good habits, and so on – which, they claim, can make you more successful. Yet according to author and blogger Mark Manson, these factors have a trifling impact on success. Most of the world’s biggest breakthroughs stem not from execution but from contrarian ideas. In his signature irreverent tone, Manson divulges the approach common to highly successful people, as well as his thoughts on the nature of extreme success itself. Please note: If you’re triggered by expletives or references to substance abuse, you may feel uncomfortable watching Manson’s not-safe-for-work (NSFW) video.

Summary

Most self-help advice has no correlation to success.

Many life coaches and self-help gurus claim to have the tools to make you “more successful than 99% of people,” but most of this advice is hooey. Constructive productivity hacks, healthful habits or positive morning routines, while important, have no bearing on success. In fact, even if you habitually breakfast on junk food and sleep until 11 a.m., you can emerge more successful than the majority of people. Lifestyle has little sway on success.

Some of history’s most successful people had questionable habits: Winston Churchill famously drank Scotch in the bathtub, and Thomas Edison was known to use cocaine. And Warren Buffett became one of the richest people in the world, despite eating a ...

About the Speaker

Mark Manson is the best-selling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope. 

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