Most successful leaders believe that only 3% of people are truly successful, and statistics support this. Only 3% of the North America population, for example, reads books. If you look at retirement and wealth statistics, baseball batting averages, and business sales ratios, you’ll find that magical 3% everywhere.
That means that 97% of people are not ideal business partners, and you frankly don’t need them to succeed if you can get to the 3%. Entrepreneurs who try to be well liked, popular, and politically correct, waste a lot of time appeasing losers and consoling whiners, instead of focusing on the leaders, the winners, and the results. It’s more important to be respected than it is to be liked, and then only by the 3%.
I once heard a good analogy that a friend of mine taught when illustrating that “the tall trees catch the wind”. He said that he regarded the complaints and resentment of wanna-be’s as he would barking dogs. The opinions of successful people were important to him and he took advice only from people who were achieving more than he was. Some say they justify tolerating underachievers and has-beens with the old saying, “You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince”, however we don’t build relationships with frogs. Those are simply the duds that lead to the studs. You don’t carry stepping stones up the mountain with you.
You don’t have to justify or explain yourself to anyone who does not contribute to your success.
You simply don’t have the time and resources to waste. Rescuing victims and enabling parasites is for government and social workers. John Addison said, “Never take advice from someone more screwed up than you are”, and Boreh Dean said, “You have to earn the right to whine to me.” Casting pearls before swine is fine if you like applause, but if you like profit you need to conserve your resources.
If you are serious about creating wealth:
- become extremely selective
- set high standards
- discipline yourself
- and develop a thick skin.
You need courage to achieve success, and, if you want to join the 3%, popularity is superfluous. Study the life of Winston Churchill for a great example of this philosophy. Do what winners do, and you’ll get what they get.
