Dean Graziosi recalls working as a body man at 16, hiding frustration while performing with genuine enthusiasm. A customer noticed and lent him $100,000 for a real estate deal. His lesson: passion and enthusiasm attract opportunities more than raw intelligence.
Around ages 16–18 ("When I was 18, I fixed 16, 17, 18").
$100,000.
But so many of us will stay in something that is safe. And I'm not encouraging anyone to go out and quit their job, quit their life, quit a relationship. But to not have passion in what you do can make life just be the same day over and over. I think it was Earl Nightingale that said, you know, you're in that hypnotic rhythm. You just found a groove. That's okay, but you're not passionate about it. When I was 18, I fixed 16, 17, 18. I fixed cars every day. I was a body man. I fixed wrecked cars. I paint under my nails. I breathed fumes every day. I hated it. I had headaches every day, hated getting dirty. I knew it wasn't my life, but I did it. And he made me. I did it with passion. And when I look back, I did that with passion. And a guy that came in, I fixed his car a couple times when I was going into real estate. One of the guys that came in, I fixed his car. You're always in a great mood. What are you up to? And he asked me one day. I said, well, I'm putting together these two pieces of practice. I don't have a lot of money, but I'm juggling. I'm putting this deal together, this one, And I got this going over here. He's like, well, what if I lent you 100 grand? He lent me my first hundred thousand dollars on one of my biggest deals ever. Would that ever happen if he saw how I really felt about being a body man? If I was like, oh, this sucks. Someday I'll do something real. That's how I felt. But I was like, hey, how you doing? So there's two sides to this is you want to do something passionate, but be passionate until you do the thing that you're most passionate about. Because along that journey will be a strategic byproduct of what you're doing. You never know the next person that comes into your life, the next thing, the next opportunity. And listen, enthusiasm and passion outweigh intelligence every day of the week. Believe me, I'm a living example of that.
