15 Laws of the Top 1%

Welcome to the Growth Stacking podcast. This is Dan Martell. I'm going to share with you the 15 laws of success. These laws are what make the top 0.001% of people successful. Some of these laws are what I use to make my first million dollars at 27 years old. And others are, from what I observe, rubbing shoulders with some of the richest men in history. So without further explaining it, These are the 15 laws of success. The first law of to have an aim. Napoleon Hill talks about this in Think and Grow Rich. He says have a primary aim. If you don't know where you're going, then any road will get you there. You don't create success. We attract success. So we have to become an attractive character which requires us to believe in creating this future, to have an aim of what we want to accomplish. So I have this simple framework that I call the speed to attract. Essentially there's three parts. If you have 100% clarity for what you want to create the aim, and then you have 100% belief, belief in achieving that outcome, and you believe that a hundred percent of the time, then those three things will dictate how fast you can attract that future into your current reality. Most people don't want to call their shot because if they say out loud or to themselves something they want to achieve and then they don't achieve it, then they're going to feel bad about it. So it's better to not even say anything. And I hope that someday, somehow this works out and then if it happens, great. If it doesn't, then they don't feel bad. The problem with that is not believing, not focusing, not having a destination means that you can go all over the place, zigzag to the left, to the right, and all the way back to eventually, potentially get there. It just will take you 25 years instead of three to five. That's how important having a primary aim is. Which brings us to the second law, which is to believe in your ability. See, I've read over a hundred plus biographies of some of the wealthiest, most successful people from across history. From the Bezos to the Kobe Bryant to the Brady's to the Elon's. And all of them have this ability to hold a crazy vision until it becomes comes true. See, the way to do it is you have to know where you want to go and believe it by going into that place and being in that energy, like a character in a movie. If you have a hard time going and visualizing it, just pretend like you're Making up this future in your mind. And go into that place of achievement after you've gotten there, and act as if it's true. Truly close your eyes, see it, Imagine you've already achieved it. How does that feel? If all of a sudden you woke up and you looked at your bank account, there's $20 million in there already paid, and you don't owe it back to anybody, how would you feel? Think about it. Look at yourself in that situation, looking at your phone, $20 million in your bank account. Look at it from different angles. See, sometimes it's not just about you and the first person. Go and imagine there's a camera in the room watching you. Imagine that somebody changed the angles all of a sudden. Now you're going to pull out your phone fast. You're going to pull it out slow. I really want you to be in that space. Play some music in the background. What music would be playing when you're checking your bank account? What would the detail look like? Can you tell me what phone you're looking at your bank account through? It's that level of specificity of reality that you need to be able to visualize to get into the energetic space for you to actually create that belief of it happening. So you'll never achieve a future that you can't first see in the mind. When I learned to skateboard, I saw the kickflip 10,000 times before I ever landed the kickflip. I thought about it in class, I thought about it after school, I thought about it on weekends. Thought about it every time I went to attempt it. And it took a really long time to go from trying to click my board on the ground to eventually an ollie to eventually a kick flip and then eventually landing it. It took a lot of visualization, a lot of belief, but it required me to actually close my eyes and see myself doing it. And this is how we create and be successful in life. Which brings us to the third law, which is to have a positive mental attitude. See, most of us are really good at visualizing the negative. If you ask somebody what they want out of life and they're like, I can't really tell you what I want. And I say, well, tell me what you don't want. And they're like, oh, well, I don't want to be poor and I don't want to be fat. I don't wanna be lonely and I don't wanna be unhappy. It's like, cool. You actually can tell me what you want. If you just take the stuff that you don't want and flip it. So here's my belief. I believe that your frequency is what you frequently see. That's why when we look through your lens of life, do you see opportunities? Do you see abundance? Do you see grace? Do you see goodness, kindness? What do you see when you go out through your day? Or do you see evidence of where everything's wrong? Because the truth is, is the world is a reflection of who you are, not how the world is. Your frequency is how you will frequently see the rest of the world. For example, I have this philosophy of API. Assume positive intent. Somebody cuts me off in traffic. I assume they're in a rush because somebody in their car is having a medical emergency. The reality is that belief is as true is the other belief of somebody saying, oh, they cut me off because they're a ding dong. Both of them are equally plausible. One keeps me happy and focused on the day. The other one could put me into a tailspin of negative emotions that then pours over into my work and, and interacting with my team. Which brings us to number four, which is to be weird. Now, I know you're like, what? How does weird help me be successful? Here's the deal. Rich equals weird. Weird people are not normal people because if they were normal people, they'd be like everybody else. But if you want to be successful, then you have to be abnormal. Think about this. One of my buddies, Alex, he always wears sandals. Steph Curry shoots 200 shots before he even plays a game. My other buddy Jason doesn't sleep. It's kind of weird. I like to wear slippers. Like, literally. Look, I wear slippers every day. Every day I wear slippers. Just makes my feet happy. My buddy Mark refuses to invest in the stock market. Instead, he buys cars. People think he's weird. I refuse to do anything that anybody else can do for me. If you want to live an extraordinary life, it's going to require you to be extra. If you do what everybody else will do, you'll always have what everybody else has. And if you want to live a life that's above what other people are having because you think that you have a vision that's bigger than awesome, some of you guys are scared about being too much. Here's the deal. If I'm too much, then go find less. I really, really think the most powerful thing you could do is to do you to be the most authentic version of you. It's what you love about all the top celebrities. They are 100% expressions of who they are. So Give yourself permission to be yourself and allow others to be different. Which brings us to number five, which is to have self discipline. See, I used to be the person that drank all the time. I used to weigh 265 pounds. I used to sleep in and hit the snooze button. I used to cancel meetings on people last minute. I used to binge eat all the time to deal with my emotions. I went through all of these challenges, challenges so I could eventually become the person who had success. And the way I did that is to have self discipline, to be consistent, to keep the commitments I made to myself, to build my self confidence. See, first off, it doesn't matter if you do something consistently for five days. If you then go off the rails for three days, you won't make any forward movement. We need to have impulse control. We need to be able to say no even if nobody else is watching. So your discipline has to match your success as you rise, because if you don't, you'll self implode. That's why you see a lot of people that get really wealthy and then lose it all is because their discipline, their consistency, didn't match the level of wealth. And then it imploded on themselves. Because here's what I believe. Discipline is the strongest form of self love you can have. And your anxiety and depression could all be resolved by owning the first two hours of your day, by having discipline about how you show up, how you focus, how you take care of the big rocks Starting off your day, build that win, build that success, build that momentum. It will change your life. Which brings us to number six, which is either you win or you learn. Nelson Mandela spent 20 years in prison and when he came out, he famously said that he never loses. He either wins or he learns. See, regardless of the outcome, there's always something to gain from the experience. Setbacks are valuable learning experiences, but you have to make sure that you learn from those mistakes. Because if you don't, then you'll keep being presented things, opportunities, people that will show you where you are not free because you didn't learn the first time you experienced that setback or that pain. And the world will keep giving you those same people, the same circumstances. Maybe you've seen people that have relationship problems and they went from somebody that was a brunette and now they're a blonde and they're like, oh, this person's completely different. And then they experience the exact same thing. It's because they didn't learn from the first experience and they brought that same process for picking and finding and being in a relationship to the new person. And those same challenges occur. See, either you win or you learn. But if you fail and you don't learn, you'll keep repeating those same mistakes. Which brings us to number seven, which is to have relentless tenacity. After I got out of rehab and I got out of all the trouble with the law and all those things from 17 to 24, I failed. I tried in business, I wanted to be successful. I surrounded myself with people. I tried, I did everything I thought I could do, but I kept failing. But what I didn't do is I didn't stop moving forward even in my full distance Ironman when I was in the heat of it, the pain cave, when I was suffering, when I couldn't even bear anymore, all I would repeat to myself is the next telephone pole. I'm only going to go from this spot to the next telephone pole. And in that moment I'm going to reconsider if I keep moving forward. And that got me through a full distance Ironman after almost 100 some mile bike ride in a three mile swim. It's crazy, but here's what I've learned. To be relentless. It requires focus. And focus stands for follow one course until successful. Execute, learn, be resilient. Most people are too transient. Most people will just keep swapping from thing to thing, thinking the next thing is the thing that's going to work and they don't realize the reason this thing didn't work is because they stopped and then they go start something new. Then they hit that part where it gets hard and then they stop and they go start anew and they just keep going. I have a friend that's been doing this for 27 years, 27 years of his life and he doesn't see it that when it gets hard he decides to stop. You have to have resilience. You have to be tenacious. Don't worry about making the right decision. Just worry about making a decision on that course and then making that decision right. Which brings us to number eight, which is to have extreme accountability. What I'm about to share with you, for some of you it may be a little difficult to hear, but it's only when I took accountability that I started seeing success around the ages of 23, 24. I just learned at that age that I have to focus on the controllables. What are the things that are within my control? There's a bunch of other stuff I won't be able to control. But what are the things That I can decide. I can decide how to respond to what's happening around me. I mean, during COVID we were training for Ironman and all the races got canceled. And in that moment, I could have just accepted, like most of the racers, that I'm not racing this year. In the two years of training, we'll get pushed back to another year, potentially in the future. But then I said, you know what? I can't control the government. I can't control what the world and the population or my community wants to do, but I can control how I respond. And I decided I want to race. How do we make this happen? And me and my buddies coordinated with the chip company and a different location, and there was about four of us, and we were all compliant, but we ended up running our own full distance. Ironman during COVID one of the few Covid races ever happened. Now, I know some of you guys are like, that's crazy. And I know 100% accountability will sound absurd. Some people are like, okay, so you're telling me everything that happens to me, I'm responsible for. I'm saying just own it. If you get hit, hit by a car, own the fact that you were walking on the sidewalk when you got hit by the car. Someone writes you off. Just own the fact that you decided to be in commerce with that person. If you get your heart broken, just own the fact that you decided to be in a relationship with that person. You don't control those people. But if you can be accountable to how you respond to the situation, then that at least gives you agency, it gives you power. It doesn't lose the opportunity for you to take control of that situation. Which brings us to number nine, which is be impeccable with your word. One of the things that I pride myself, myself on is that if I make a commitment to you, you can 100% guarantee it. Take it to the bank. If I say I'm going to speak at your event, or I'm going to show up and do your podcast, or I'm going to meet with you for coffee, I will show up. If it's in the calendar, I do it. But it wasn't always that way. There was a point where I didn't think it was that important to always honor what I say. And what I've learned over the years is that how you are is who you attract. So if you're flaky, you're going to attract other flaky people. So if you can't do it, then say it's a no, don't say maybe. Just say, I can't say I'm heads down, say I'd to, but I won't be able to do that. Be with integrity with others. My philosophy is I want to live as if everything I say or do is recorded, because it kind of is. And that it could be published on the homepage of a newspaper or on the homepage of a website, or published on the homepage of YouTube. This is who I am, this is what I say, and I got to stand by that. When you're somebody that shows up and does what they say they're going to do, then you start to build confidence in others. You build confidence in yourself, and people start to trust you. When you're somebody that really honors the language, the words you use, because it's not only what you say to other people, it's what you say to yourself. Be impeccable at choosing language and words to describe your story, your situation, that empowers you, not that pulls you down. I used to do this all the time where I would talk down to myself. I would beat myself up. Some of you, if you actually heard somebody speaking to your friend the way you speak to yourself, you would punch that person in the face. Yet you allow yourself to have these negative conversations. The impeccable with the word is not only public, but it's internal. That's how we build integrity with ourselves. This brings us to number 10, which is to upgrade our relationships. When I started to see success around the age of 25, I had to look around some of the people in my life at that point and cut a lot of toxic people from my life. These are people that I appreciated and I adored and I loved up until that point. But then I realized that their journey and mine were completely different and we started drifting ways and that was tough. But the truth is, I think one of the biggest flexes you could have is a life well lived. Think about this. If you show up in life and you're positive and you're surrounding yourself with other people to support your dreams, then you get to live a life well, love and great people will want to spend time with you. Jay Z isn't Jay Z without his producer guru. Because Jay Z is a positive person that really curates his conversations and the people he allows in his entourage, then he has a positive life and he will attract other incredible talent. You're not the average of the five people you spend time with, but you're the average of the five people you allow to influence. You think about that it's who you allow to influence you. That's why social media is such a great tools. You can choose the people that you allow to influence you. Cutting people out of your life that are toxic. I call this doing a friendventory. You just gotta ask yourself one question. When I share good news with that person, are they happy for me or they try to knock me down? Are these people that are pushing me to live a higher life, are they expecting more from me, from a place of concern and they see my greatness? Are these people that are always complaining about other folks or worrying about everything I'm doing that's making me second guess my decisions? Or are these people adding value to your life? You don't need to make it a big thing, just disengage. Don't respond to their text as quick. Don't say yes to the weekend invites and create some space for you to invite other people into your life. Which brings us to number 11, which is play to win. When I got successful, I remember I got invited to this crazy event. It was held by one of the most notable politicians in our state. And I went to this place where like 25 private jets landed. There was about 200 people. It was incredibly curated. Bill Clinton spoke there, Colin Powell, some of the most elite people ever. And I'm in my 20s, sitting around these rooms of people that are much, much older than me, double, triple my age. And the conversations were fascinating to me because what I noticed was most of the people in that room were in a different head space, a different energy space around success. And eventually one of my mentors explained it to me this way. Cause I asked him, I said I didn't really like that. And he said, oh, that's because those people are in wealth preservation mode and you're still in wealth creation mode. And I realized that that is the difference between playing not to lose versus playing to win. I would encourage you, the top people, the most successful people, the ones that you read about in the magazines that inspire, these are people that are in wealth creation mode. They're showing up to play to win. They're trying to figure out where is the next opportunity, not how do I protect the empire built. So far, People playing not to lose are often more focused on avoiding making mistakes than making plays, expansion and creation. And to be a great player, you can't fear failure. Always be on the offense, not the defense, or over time you'll get frail. This brings us to number 12, which is to express your preferences. See, successful people do this very simple, simple thing. They ask for what they want. The reason most people are struggling to get what they want is because they've never asked for them, whether big or small. So you never get a dollar more than you think you deserve. If you want a raise, you got to ask for it. If you want money from investors, you got to ask for it. If you want your steak medium rare and it comes out rare, ask for another one. Because even the little things compound. Most people are scared because they don't want to upset somebody. They don't want to inconvenience somebody else, they don't want to put somebody out. They don't want to get anybody to create conflict like they're so scared of disrupt their world or other people are being bothersome that they just decide to not ask for what they want. And some people will live in internal unhappiness when they could have just asked. Which brings us to number 13, which is to prioritize investments. See, broke people make money to buy things. If I gave them an extra $2,000, they would be like, woo, what can I buy on my 2000 bucks? Where middle class people make money so that they can improve their credit score so they can get loans to buy nicer things and kind of keep up with the Joneses. But wealthy people invest in income generating ass. If I gave them an extra $2,000, they're like, Whoa, okay, where can I invest this to turn this into more money into the future? See, 78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, which is a scary statistic. They don't invest in the future. They don't delay gratification. They want everything now. They feel entitled. I should have this. Why do other people have nice things and I don't? See, instead of buying a brand new car, ask yourself, what asset could I invest in that could create enough cash flow to buy that car? That's what successful people people do. Wealthy people invest in things because they have longer time horizons. See, they look at in decades, not in days. They're thinking about, okay, if I invest this now, in 10 years, I could live a completely different quality of life. Whereas most people, they haven't set a big vision, a primary aim for what they want to create in the future. So they're just happy with a little bit more today. So they defer the big opportunity for the future, for the guaranteed little thing today. Which brings us to number 14, which is, is to be incompetent. Yep, you heard me right. I had a short go viral where I said if you want to be rich, be lazy. And if you want to be wealthy, be incompetent. Here's why you have to consider yourself going from operator to owner in life. You know, if I had a restaurant and the chef quit, I'm not going to jump in the kitchen and start cooking food. I would go find another chef. This means work through people, be selective where you get yourself involved. See, if you're too smart, if you know too many things, then you'll always be the person that gives people the answers to the test, which means that anytime they run into issues, they're always going to come to you for the answers, which creates the bottleneck. And the bottleneck is called that because it comes from the top. See, some of the smartest people in the world aren't rich. Think about, like the PhD, doctorate professor at the university. The reason why is because they don't understand that by being incompetent, selectively choosing to not always have the answers actually empowers the people around them to step up and own the projects. See, I would encourage you to consider focus instead on helping other people get rich and invest in them, train them, teach them, and that's actually how you get focus freedom. Which brings us to number 15, which is to protect your reputation. At the end of the day, success is all about reach and reputation. Are you known well or well known? Are you somebody that can deliver on your promises, on your commitments, or are you somebody that always flakes? Are you somebody that's world class, like Buffett, and because he's one of the best investors in the world, he has that reputation? He gets other people's luck brought to him. Are you somebody that has values that you can communicate and you share with other people and you stand by them and when they're tested, you're consistent. People see that. Do you have integrity when things go bad and it's your fault? Do you step up to try to make it right? Are you somebody that shines your light? At the end of the day, people want to do business with folks they know, like and trust. And the more people know who you are and like and trust you, the more success you will attract into your life. Those are the 15 laws of success. But if you want to learn how I brainwash myself to success, click the link and I'll see you on the other side. If you like this week's episode, be sure to visit I iTunes, leave a review that'll help us get in front of other founders just like you. And if you're looking for more resources and video trainings, be sure to check out dan martell2lsmartel.com to subscribe. Keep up the hustle, keep stacking your growth and I'll see you next Monday's episode. Peace. Grow Peace. Bye bye.