2 Secrets to Practically Guarantee Success

(+ Why I’m learning Turkish)

September 15th, 2022: Greetings from Hamburg, Germany

I just bought a bicycle. It’s a woman’s bike, but it works.

We’re having a great time in Hamburg, but still, Southern Germany is my favorite. Maybe it’s the sun or the familiarity, but Southern Germany has a certain charm.

Hamburg

Start

I met my girlfriend’s family in Istanbul via facetime.

Her mom liked me and gave me a compliment. So I tried to say thanks, but it ended up sounding like “balls” (in Turkish). I realized I’ll have to learn Turkish if I want to connect with them.

So I started to learn Turkish.

It’s been a slow start, but I know I’ll be successful for two reasons. They’re the same reasons why I was successful in learning German and Chinese and making a bit of internet money.

Here’s the first reason:

The first prerequisite to achieving success is believing you can.

Sounds cliche, and it is. But it’s also overlooked.

For example, in 2019, I met my girlfriend in Munich.

I sucked at German, but she had already been in the country for a year and learned how to speak fluently. That was proof to me. If she could do it, so could I. And after that, I started to make great progress in the language.

Credit: Andrew Kirby

It’s nearly impossible to find motivation for something you think is impossible to achieve. And that’s more or less the message from Think and Grow Rich.

And so, the same thing happened when I tried to make internet money.

I didn’t think it was possible until I saw Andrew Kirby, a relatively normal British dude, had done it:

Andrew Kirby @IAmAndrewKirby

I'm 22. Here's how I used @naval's thread to make $1m online. ↓

Naval @naval

How to Get Rich (without getting lucky):

A year later, I’m making a livable income from an online service (ghostwriting).

But again, I didn’t start making any real progress until I saw the proof and believed it was possible.

The Second Reason:

The second reason is also a bit cliche, so I’ll be brief.

Everyone’s heard: “Start with Why”

But again, we often overlook it.

You see, I was terrible at learning Italian, but crushed learning German. Because with German I had a clear “Why.”

And now, I’m learning Turkish because I want to connect with my girlfriend’s family. Of course, I’m going to put in more effort than a high schooler who’s forced to sit through Spanish class.

If you have a strong why, you’ll be like the child waking up on Saturday to play video games and not like the high schooler waking up on Monday to go to school.

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Summary

• Belief in yourself &

• Intrinsic motivation (“Why”)

Are two obvious yet overlooked contributors to success.

If you want to have better outcomes it helps to play games you:

1. Believe you can win

2. Have a strong intrinisic motivation to win

That’s all for today.

Thank you for reading.