In this reflective monologue, Leila Hormozi examines three pervasive myths about success that she discovered through building multiple businesses, including Gym Launch and Prestige Labs. She recounts a personal moment when a congratulatory gym patron made her feel terrible, illustrating the first lie: success does not feel good because achieving it requires hard, uncomfortable growth and the emotional payoff is often muted. The second lie she debunks is the belief that success automatically brings happiness; Hormozi explains that happiness is a separate skill rooted in contentment, acceptance, and mindset, not tied to external achievements. The third lie is the notion that success will solve all of life’s problems; she argues that money cannot prevent illness, loss, or personal challenges, and that unresolved personal issues drain mental bandwidth needed for success. Hormozi advises listeners to first identify and resolve their personal problems, develop the skill of happiness, and then channel the resulting mental clarity toward ambitious goals. The video concludes with a call to pause, solve underlying issues, and pursue success with realistic expectations.
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What is up? In this video today, what I want to talk about are the 3 lies of success that we tend to believe and why they are just not true. I want to make this video because I was doing a lot of reflecting this week. Um, we've had like a lot of big changes going on with personal life, business life, etc., and I was just reflecting back on the last few years a lot. And, um, one thing that I felt kept standing out my mind was just um, you know, establishing our first company, which was Gym Launch, and what that looked like, what that felt like, just thinking through all of the decisions that we made along the way and everything that I learned. It was kind of just like a point of reflection for me this last week to think about everything I've learned from the business, everything that I gained, and how each business after that taught me something different. Um, but when I think about Gym Launch, I think of the biggest lesson it taught me, or one of the biggest. And that is what success really feels like. And I'll tell you, when I think back to it, I have this memory and it is of, uh, it was like 2 o'clock on a Thursday and I went to the gym and I would, what I did at that point is I would get up and I would work from like 5 to 1, eat lunch, go to the gym, come back, shower, work again until I couldn't. Um, and So I did this midday workout thing and there'd be people at the gym. And because we're in the fitness industry, people obviously knew who we were and they were like, oh, this thing that you're doing is really blowing up, et cetera, et cetera. And I remember one day, one guy that was a regular there come up to me and he said, you know, like, I'm just, congratulations on all the success. Like, I see you guys everywhere. I saw your event you just held. It's huge. It's amazing. Like, blah, blah, blah. I remember thinking like, what is wrong with me? Like this guy is congratulating me and I feel terrible. And I remember thinking how funny it was because I'm like, why are you congratulating me? Like, I feel like crap. I don't deserve this. Like, I don't know what's going on. Like, this is all really overwhelming. Like, why is this a success? You know, just because we're making a ton of money. It's so funny because the biggest lesson that I got from that is that the first lie that I think we are all told is that success feels good. And I realized in that moment, I was like, we're helping thousands of people, we're changing their businesses, we're, you know, freeing ourselves financially, we're helping our employees financially, we're doing all this good work. And yet I feel terrible. And the reason that success doesn't actually feel good, and it actually feels typically the opposite, right? Feels uncomfortable. There's lots of fear, there's lots of anxiety, there's lots of discomfort, is because in order to succeed, we have to grow. And in order to succeed— to succeed is to fulfill a goal that we have set for ourselves, right? In order to do that, we have to overcome challenges. And so all we can think about is like, well, yeah, like, look at all these things I just did. This is terrible. Like, you're telling me congratulations on the success and all I feel is terrible because I've been doing all these hard things day in and day out. Every day I'm exhausted mentally and physically. I'm challenging myself all the time. And so that was the first thing that I learned is I was like, success doesn't feel good. And lo and behold, with Prestige Labs, with Allen, with every company that we've started, when it has the first moment of absolute success, which is what I would consider— we set it out, we say we want to hit this metric, this number, this many customers, this success with our customers— when it hits that, it never feels good. And the reason it never feels good is a couple things. One, like I said, it's all hard work to get there. In order to achieve anything, in order to have success, you have to work hard. And working hard does not feel good. It is uncomfortable. The second thing is that before you hit 100, you're at 99. And so before you achieve the success that you've set at that 100 mark, you're at 99. So the relative jump from 99 to 100, you don't really feel it. You know, when you're at 1 and you're looking at what you set at 100, it's like, holy crap, that's going to feel amazing when I get there. But as you get there, the distance becomes smaller and smaller. It becomes more and more feasible. When you achieve the success, there's really not much of a monumental moment there. And so that was the first piece that I learned, is that success doesn't really feel good, okay? And a lot of people want to achieve something. They want success because they want to feel good. The success itself will not make you feel good. I think that in hindsight, what makes you feel good is the character traits that you can accumulate on your way to success, which is why the process of trying to succeed is more important than success itself. That is the first lie. The second is that once you become successful, you will be happy. And, you know, I've talked about this in my other videos before. There was that moment in 2019 when Alex and I went on our first vacation ever, and I told him, I was like, I just can't do this anymore. Like, I feel terrible. I'm miserable. I'm not happy. I'm— I feel terrible. That was also when I realized that success and happiness take different skill sets. And they are— they're both a skill, but they're very different skills. Success is— it's being able to achieve things, able— being able to work hard, being able to grit through things, being able to overcome challenges and keep perspective while doing so. Whereas happiness is different. Happiness is contentness. It's acceptance. It's liking what you have. It's being okay with the things as they are. And they're very different. And so in 2019 is when I set out to develop that skill of happiness, and I do think that I have achieved it to a reasonably high degree, um, in terms of my levels of happiness are, you know, higher than I think they've ever been in my life. And it doesn't equate to anything I've done with success. It doesn't. I can be happy despite businesses having a bad week, despite businesses having bad months, despite everything that happened during COVID Like, I've been happier during COVID than I have been any other time in my life. And that's not because of any circumstance or any success that I've had. It's because of my mindset and my ability to work on that skill of happiness. And so that is the second thing, is that I think a lot of the times people don't know if they're looking for success or happiness. And so it's really good if you can distinguish those because they're not the same. In fact, they take very different skill sets. Success does not equate to happiness. The third thing is that success will solve all your problems. And nobody would say this out loud, but everybody has a vision in their head, which is, once I have enough money, I'll be able to figure everything out. And you'll be able to solve all your problems and everything will resolve itself. Well, you can have all the money in the world and somebody that you love can still die, and you can still get sick, and you are not immune to cancer or car wrecks or plane wrecks. Whatever it is. And so I think a lot of the times money and success create the illusion that they can solve a lot of problems and that they can prevent you from experiencing pain. And they can in many instances, very much less important instances they can, but in terms of big life things, they cannot, right? Success is not going to solve all your problems. Your problems have to be solved Regardless of your success. And so I would actually, I would tend to give people the advice that you should solve your problems before you aim for the success. And I say that because I do believe that's part of why we were able to be successful as young as we are. You know, there was a time when Alex and I had a mentor and he told each of us to write down every single thing that was a problem or anything bothering us. Right, in our lives. And we wrote it down. And then he's like, cool, before you try to build these businesses together, go handle every problem. And I was like, seriously, every problem? Jesus. He's like, yeah, go handle every problem. And we did. And you know what you feel when you've handled all your problems? Absolute space and clarity to attack whatever is next. I had absolute mental clarity, absolute mental space to handle what was in front of us, which was we have a goal, we want to start this business, and now I have all of my attention to put towards that. Before, it was like attention here, attention there, attention there. And a lot of people think, oh, if I want to get all that attention back, I've got to succeed in order to get it, when the reality is that you have to go collect your attention so that you can put it towards that success that you want. And that is why success will not solve all your problems. But if you solve your problems, you are more likely to succeed. And so that is what I've been thinking lately about in terms of success. A big reason I want to make this video is because I think that there's a lot of people out there who continuously chase success, and what they tend to realize is that they still feel crappy and they keep chasing it. It's like they can't stop doing it, and yet they don't feel good. They don't feel happy. They don't feel content. They haven't solved their problems. And there's nothing wrong with you. You're just chasing the wrong thing. There are different skills, there are different problems, there are different pieces of life. And so I think it actually helps to look at a lot of these things in isolation rather than to look at it like there's an end-all be-all. Like, if I achieve this one thing, it will solve everything in my life. Each problem and each piece of life has to be handled separately. You have to achieve, uh, you have to attain different skills to become happy. You have to solve your problems separately because they all have to be solved and handled in different ways. And you have to be able to take all that attention and then you can put it towards success. So I hope that if you are in a place where you are trying to succeed, you are trying to achieve something, this can help bring some clarity to maybe why you don't feel good when you're achieving. Because I don't know anybody who does, who's very successful. I think in hindsight everything feels good because we can look back with admiration on our memories. At least most of them. And then I hope that it helps if you're trying to solve your problems through success. You know, I would say go take a pause, solve your problems, and then take that attention and put it towards the thing you want. And so I hope that video is useful. If so, go ahead, hit subscribe, and I will see you on the next one.
