Quincy Jones said that Nat King Cole used to always tell him: ‘Quincy, your music can be no more or no less than you are as a human being.’
The more biographies I read, the more I’m convinced that there are no magical steps to become successful as people often want to believe.
Why do we romanticize easy to-do steps instead of personal-growth in general? I’m not sure why but I suppose because it is much easier to communicate certain isolated steps than a whole, complex story. Especially with the Internet and those click-baity headlines.
I learned this through personal experience and reading biographies. That’s why I think it is so crucial to read lots of biographies. It is where you realize that oh, all those successful people, they weren’t like that always. They once were much like you. And nobody handed them a “Just follow these 10 steps guide” to become successful.
So what I actually mean is, STOP COPYING EDGE CASES THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH WHERE YOU’RE AT. What was effective for Bill Gates, isn’t necessarily going to be for you. He had to develop skills that he lacked and needed. You need to figure out what you got and work from there. Self-awareness, it’s what GaryVee often says it the most important thing, even more, important than hustle. And I’m convinced it’s due to the fact that there is no one cookie-cutter plan that’s going to work for everyone.