The Real Difference Between Success and Failure by Will Napolini
I want you to imagine a person that you like, respect and looked up to.
Someone who you consider to be very successful.
Go ahead and do that in your mind.
Now put up your hand if you have that person in your mind.
The question we got to explore today is what makes that person successful while while others fail?
I want you to imagine what life could be like if you could be at your very best in every area of your life.
Your relationship, your finance, your business, your career, your family, your health, your hobby, your passion.
What would it be like if you could be at your very best in every area of your life?
You see, I've been studying success for the better part of 17 years of my life.
I've been asked hundreds of times in talks and interviews, what is the one quality or action or mindset that will ensure a person truly creates extraordinary success?
I discovered that although there are many factors that lead to success goal setting, focus, persistence, time management, people skill I've never been clear on that one thing that really makes a difference.
When I look in my own life, I ask myself the question, what was it that made me successful? It wasn't because of my intelligence.
When I first came to Canada, I couldn't speak a word of English.
When I was in school, I was a C student.
It wasn't because I had a great upbringing, because actually my mum and dad got divorced when I was 16 years old.
And shortly after that, my dad went bankrupt.
So I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth.
And definitely it wasn't because I was connected to the right people.
Because when I first immigrated to Canada, I didn't know anybody.
And it wasn't because of my personality.
Because at a time when I was young, I was very, very shy.
I wasn't social at all. I didn't have a lot of friends.
And back then I couldn't even speak a word of English.
And it definitely wasn't because of luck, because I had failed.
I had started and failed at 13 businesses before having my first success.
I've lost millions of dollars in business, so I wouldn't call that luck.
When I look at the liver success I had over the years having a great marriage, building a number of successful companies, writing multiple bestselling books, becoming a highly paid speaker that impacts hundreds of thousands of people, and just living life on my own terms, that I could get up every morning and doing what I love.
Having that sense of purpose, having that sense of peace.
Something that very few people accomplish.
I noticed I realized there was one factor in each of those successes, in every one of those successes. In fact, it was present in everything that significantly happened in my life.
Let's just pretend for a moment that we all got 100 IQs, okay?
For some people in this room, I'm giving you a little for some people in this room, I'm taking it away.
Let's just pretend we all got 100 IQ.
And let's pretend I got 100 IQ.
Now, let me ask you a question.
Is it possible for someone to have ten times higher IQ than us?
I've heard of 150 IQs, maybe 200 IQs, but not like 1000 IQs.
So can we all agree that someone cannot be ten times smarter than us?
Can someone work ten times harder than us?
So you work 8 hours a day, they work 80 hours a day?
So the question is, why are there people ten times more successful than us?
Why are there people helping and impacting ten times more people than us?
Why are there people making ten times more money than us?
Why are there people ten times healthier than us?
Why are there people ten times happier than us?
There was a young man, and he wanted to be successful.
And he's heard of this millionaire in his town who has got a great reputation that not only he runs a very successful business, he's a family man, a man of integrity, also a very generous giver to his local charities.
This young man approached this millionaire and said, how can I be as successful as you?
The millionaire said, well, young men, if you want to be as successful as me, meet me 06:00 a.m. At this gym.
I want to learn how to make money.
Like, why would I go to the gym?
Young men, if you will learn how to make money, meet me 06:00 a.m. At this gym.
All right. Okay. The young man show up to the gym 06:00 a.m.
Shop brought his laptop, ready to go. Dressing in business, ready to take notes.
He walked into this big gym, and there was this huge boxing ring right in the middle of the gym, and the millionaire is standing in it.
And the millionaire asked the young man, he said, young man, how hungry are you for success?
And the young man said, I'm very hungry.
Good. He grabbed a pair of gloves.
Put on these gloves. I came to learn how to be successful, not how to fight.
If you want to be successful, put on these gloves.
He walked into the ring without warning, the Amelia boom punch a yammer on the face.
And the Yummy's nose started bleeding.
And the yammer was like, what the heck?
And as he was distracted by his own thought, the millionaire, bam threw another punch and knocked him to the ground.
And this yammer thought, this millionaire is crazy.
And the millionaire said to the young man, I ask you again, how hungry are you for success?
This time the young man is mad.
He is like, I'm going to get you.
And he really tried to hit the millionaire.
He really tried to swing back. But the millionaire just moved around very gracefully, very quickly.
Could even touch the guy, couldn't touch there.
And he knocked him to the ground again and again and again and again.
And the young man finally said, this is it.
I didn't tell you to be your punching bag.
I thought you're going to teach me how to be successful.
I don't see how this has anything to do with success.
Maybe you are not who they say you were.
Maybe it was a mistake to even ask in the first place.
Damilia looked at a young man death serious and said, kid, the world ain't fair and life ain't fair.
It's going to push you around, it's going to beat you down and it's going to beat you up.
Let me tell you something and you listen to me and listen to me closely.
Success doesn't come to the most intelligent or the most talented.
Success come to those to come to those who are the most hungry for it.
So let me ask you, how hungry are you for success?
How hungry are you for success?
What are you willing to give up in order to get what you want?
What sacrifices are you willing to make?
What excuses are you willing to let go?
Are you willing to experience humiliation, embarrassment, rejection as part of the price?
Are you truly committed to success?
See, most people, that's the problem.
They talk about it, they think about it, they complain about it, but they don't really want it.
For some people in this room, you don't want success as bad as you want Pokemon Go.
You don't want success as bad.
You don't want success as bad as you want to party.
Most people like the idea of having a great relationship.
If you're truly committed, you'll be going out on a date.
Most people like the sound of the oh, be my own boss.
If you're actually committed, you'll be being business.
Most people like the idea of losing £20.
If you truly committed, you show up at the gym.
You will showed up at the gym.
We don't really want it that bad.
Hunger is the unstoppable force.
Hunger is what is going to make you unstoppable.
Hunger is what is going to keep you going when things get tough.
Hunger destroys all fear or failure.
Hunger is your ultimate competitive advantage.
When you want something bad enough and when you know what you want and you want it bad enough, you'll find a way to get it.
I disrupt people when I say you make me extraordinary because it lets you off the hook.
You see, when I started my entrepreneurial career, for the first five years in business, I was working twelve to 15 hours a day, every day.
I didn't take a single day off for five years.
I was working while my friends are out drinking, partying and watching sports game.
Because I was hungry for success.
I was willing to sacrifice today's pleasures for tomorrow's rewards.
I was willing to pay the price today to buy the possibility of a better future for my family.
I'm not the smartest, I'm not the brightest.
I don't have the most resources.
I will die climbing the mountain, not sliding down.
Before I quit, I can tell you, begin to tell you how many times during my career people tell me, slow down, slow down.
You know, don't work too hard.
You know, success isn't everything.
Have you ever noticed the person who says success isn't everything, is the man or woman had none.
I've been labeled as a workaholic, a freak, weird, selfish, greedy, egotistical, you name it, I've heard it all.
And I can't begin to tell you how many times in my life people try to persuade me to give up on my dreams.
That is okay to settle, that's okay to settle for less.
And later on, I realize the people who try to persuade me to give up on my dreams, they're not trying to help me.
They're trying to make sense why they have given up themselves.
They're trying to make sense why they have given up themselves.
See, the problem is you can't google download hunger.
Someone was trying to do that.
It's like people follow me on Facebook.
You can't follow me on Facebook.
You can't watch me on YouTube and get to where I am today.
You are just going to see where I am.
If you watch me, watch me to inspire you just to fight a little longer.
If you watch me watch me you want to live up to your own potential instead of copying someone else's.
If you watch me, watch me to get back up and fight one more time.
To fight one more time. It's like when you want to take the leap.
When you get to the edge, your brain will always tell you to stop, to step back.
Because your brain is a survival mechanism.
It is designed to protect you.
But your intuition, your higher self, is designed to make you sword.
And when you get to that edge and you want to jump and you watch everyone else's fly, it's like you're watching people on Instagram, you're watching people on Facebook, and you watch everyone else's fly.
They're taking that dream vacation.
They're landing that dream job.
They find their ideal soulmate and you're watching everyone else.
And you wonder what life would be like to jump without ever jumping.
See, sometimes you have to listen to your own intuition.
Sometimes you have to just listen to that voice and say, you know what?
When you're hungry, you'll dash off that cliff and you will jump.
And when you jump, only one of the three things could happen.
You would spread your wings and you would soar to new height.
Second thing, you would jump and land on something soft.
And you'll learn on something hard.
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
You've heard of the song, what doesn't kill you Makes you stronger.
You see, you and I know your greatest fear is not that you would jump and fall.
Your greatest fear is to get to the end of your life and never jump. And never leap.
You're afraid of dying before this world sees who you are, sees what you're capable of. Before they get your gifts, before they feel your breath, before they get your contribution, before they feel you.
You don't want that to happen.
You don't want to leave this planet without someone knowing that you were here.
You see, this prescription to extraordinary success is hunger.
The single most important element of any human that separates the level of success from the rest is hunger.
If you go where you've never gone, do what you've never done, say we have never said you will become the man or woman they've always known yourself to be.
So, please, I'm not extraordinary.
I'm not going to let you off the hook.
You don't get to be left off the hook.
I'm just an ordinary man who chooses every day to make one extra extraordinary decision.
I would like to offer you an opportunity to make that decision today.
The most important decision that you can ever make in your life is deciding whether you are truly committed to success and happiness, no matter what is the greatest gift that you could give yourself.
Decide what you're willing to get to the edge and jump for.
When you want something bad enough, and you work for it long enough and you believe in it strong enough, you will get it you will get it.
So I'm going to ask you the question one more time, and it's the last question.
Then I'll be out of here. I'm looking for one word answer and one word answer only and as loud as you could.
You better blow the roof of this thing.
One word answer, and here's the question.