Success comes to many people.
The terrible boss who takes advantage of his employees can still be successful in his career.
Or the selfish man who only ever thinks of himself and his benefit, and never to give, can also become very successful.
When picturing someone who embodies greatness, I bet those are not the kinds of people who would come to your mind.
The reason for that is that greatness is not about how much you have, but how much you give, care, and empower others.
It’s not about overlooking every other area of your life, for the sake of one.
Here is how to succeed with greatness in everything you do with these 3 fundamental principles:
1. Health – Your first foundation
You can overlook your health and still be successful — a lot of people are indeed.
But here’s the deal:
If your focus is to achieve success with greatness, you need to take care of your body and mind .
Why?
Examine the life of those people. They might be successful, but what are they giving up?
How is their health? Do they have meaningful relationships? Are they happy? Fulfilled?
If that’s what they giving up, is it really worth it? Is that greatness to you?
When we talk about greatness, we talk about something different – more profound.
It’s not about sacrificing every other aspect of our lives in order to achieve success in one.
It’s about understanding that if you care for your health, relationships, and mind — you produce better work, be more successful, and enjoy the journey along the way .
Sure, our time is limited. We don’t have time for it all – there are trade-offs.
However, you can always find time to take care of your health .
And once you start, it will pay dividends for the rest of your life.
Lift. Run. Move. Hydrate. Read. Listen. Walk. Sleep. Fast. Meditate.
2. Growth Mindset – Learning never ends
“It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.”
This profound statement from the Greek stoic philosopher reveals a great insight into how humans grow.
The moment you think you already know something, that’s the moment you stop learning.
That might please our ego in the short term. But if the true objective is to learn , master , follow our curiosity , find the truth , and achieve , we must be willing to be wrong at all times.
Plus, learning is fun when you are willing to be wrong. Replace that with pride and ego and see how hard and frustrating it is to learn.
Another belief that limits how growth and development in work and life is attributing success to personality, luck, and other similar nonsense.
It feels good to say:
- “I can’t do [x] because I am not [x].”
However, worse than someone who embraces mediocrity, is someone who strongly justifies his mediocrity, in everything else but himself.
It’s only when you take ownership and responsibility over yourself, your own destiny, and your abilities, that you can start learning and growing.
The truth is not always pleasant – and often uncomfortable.
If your goal is finding the truth and be open to be wrong and to challenge your own identity .
3. Discipline – Delayed gratification
“A well-disciplined mindset allows you to handle every punch life throws at you that much better.”
If you picture someone who embodies greatness — I bet you will picture someone persistent and brave through hardship and struggle.
The opposite would be someone who gives up when it gets hard or there is a big wall to climb.
The truth is that motivation is not sufficient .
If you only rely on motivation, you will not make meaningful progress in your life.
Motivation comes and goes — and when you really need it: it’s not there.
That’s why it’s important to stop doing things only when you want to and go directly to action independent of your motivation levels. That’s discipline .
You might think that’s imprisoning. But it’s rather the complete opposite.
When you embody discipline and do something good for you, but not pleasant in the moment, that’s when you are free.
Free from the short-term, dopamine, and pleasure-seeking decisions that lead to misery.
And instead working on the things that you really want to do, that will make your future self proud.
That said, discipline is a muscle . When you choose to do the thing when you don’t feel like it, you are changing your self-story. You are now someone who prioritizes long-term fulfillment, over short-term pleasure.
And that is extremely valuable.
Bringing it home
A quick review:
Health: If health falls, everything falls with it. Make it your first foundation, and it will pay dividends forever.
Growth Mindset: The moment you think you know something, is when you stop learning. Learning never ends, be open to being wrong and curious, that’s how you achieve mastery.
Discipline : Motivation is not sufficient. You need discipline to do things when you don’t want to do them. Delayed gratification will give you long-term fulfillment in all areas of life.
I hope you got something valuable in this edition of Curiosity Fuel, and thank you for reading, it means the world.
It’s always an honor to be in your inbox, until next Sunday. 👋
— Idris Moura
