Nobody cares, work harder.
Nobody cares about your excuses. Not your boss. Not that person you want to impress. Not the world.
Last week, I wrote a new year's email stating that most people wouldn’t meet their goals this year due to not wanting to achieve their goals badly enough.
I had a few people message back and agree with me saying it’s a bitter pill but the truth nonetheless.
A few others didn’t like me putting their feet to the fire and tried making more excuses and we’re only in week 2 of the new year.
So I'm doubling down.
Let me be brutally honest with those of you who like making excuses:
Nobody cares about your excuses. Not your boss. Not that person you want to impress. Not the world.
The car dealership doesn't care that you grew up poor, they won’t hand you the car keys to your favorite car. The gym results don't care that you're busy, your physique won’t build itself. That girl you like won’t give you a chance because you’re an out-of-shape loser with no ambition.
Success doesn't care about your circumstances.
The only thing that matters? Results.
The cold cold reality of the world is that only results matter.
And your weaknesses and disadvantages are proof you have to work harder than your competition. Because they won’t give you a break.
And if you're broke right now, it's because you're not working hard enough. Period.
It stands to reason that if you work 40hrs a week right now and make an ok-income or a brokish income, that if you double your hours, you’ll make double.
Because excuse-makers don't realize, they actually DO have the time. They're just choosing to waste it.
So let me give a simple occams razor that will work if you live in the west or live in the global south.
An easy way to combat and outwork poverty.
Let's do some simple math:
There are 168 hours in every week.
You sleep 8 hours a night, that's 56 hours per week.
That leaves you with 112 hours each week, right?
You work 80 of those 112 hours. With that math, if you're still sleeping 8 hours a night and working 80 hours a week, you STILL have 32 hours to do whatever you want.
Spend time with your family, meal prep, sports and gaming. Whatever.
How much leisure time do you need? This isn’t preschool. This isn’t the playground. This is real life.
The people working 40 hours a week? I hope they just like their lifestyle and they're very comfortable and very happy with the amount of money they make and they don't want more.
Because you're NOT maxing out your potential at 40hrs if you say you have money problems.
I've heard every excuse: "I work too much already." "It’s bad on the body." "What about family, I have kids?"
A lot of guys say that and don't even have kids.
Listen, I know this works because I lived it. During the pandemic, I woke up at 5am to work part time in my brother-in-law's painting company, painting 2 rooms every morning with paint-stained hands that never quite came clean. Then worked 11 hour shifts after that in the same white painting uniform but with just a Carhartt jacket for a construction company in some unheated, massive, old commercial building in the dead of an Ohio winter, stepping into freezing cold spaces at 6 AM as a skinny 22 year old in Timberlands. Weekends? I slept, poured my money into online businesses and got caught up on school. I was still a junior at 22 years old(due to gap year) in university.
Nearly seven days a week. 12-14 hour days. For TWO YEARS STRAIGHT.
Made over $70,000 both years, during the economic recession, because I outworked it.
Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t need the money. I didn’t grow up in poverty, in fact I come from a middle class family and have never needed to work to provide for myself, my parents did their jobs of raising me well. My parents owned their home, my dad had a hospitality business and a property.
I didn’t need the money.
I just knew I had to work harder from a value perspective and understand the value of being on my feet all day working a labour intensive job. And yeah my body, despite being young, felt the pain of working so much. The worst pain was in between my shoulder blades and rotator chuff. It felt like my rotator chuff had been torn out every single day.
I could see why so many people who worked labor jobs took painkillers.
Trust me, I've been there.
I’m not at all trying to trivialize how hard and abnormal it is to work 80hrs/week.
But I did it so I could invest in my business ventures. So I could have enough to pour into coaching, paid services and ads.
The goal is to outwork any financial troubles you face by doubling output so that you’re in a better place for the future.
Anyway:
HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND:
- Do the math yourself - 168 hours in a week. 56 hours sleeping. 80 hours working. That's still 32 hours left. Write out how you're actually spending your time and you'll see how much you're wasting.
- Stop comparing yourself to others - Pro athletes have advantages we don't. So what? Work harder than them if that's what it takes.
- Work 80 hours a week if you're broke - If you can sacrifice just a few years of working super hard, it can set you up for your future in a real way.
- Invest 50% of your income - You can't afford to do that working 40 hours. That's why you need 80. Drive Uber, Amazon. Get multiple jobs. Do whatever it takes.
- Making excuses = already quitting - When you make excuses, you're putting your weakness on display for the whole world to see. You've already given up mentally.
- Hunt your goals down - Don't just "go after" what you want. Hunt it down. Rip its head off. This isn't a game, this is real life.
If you’re struggling financially, I don't have a get-rich-quick scheme for you. I've been looking for one for 28 years and haven't found it.
The only way to get rich is to make more money than you spend and invest the difference. That's it. Whether you're borderline poor or already doing well for yourself.
So today, make yourself a promise: You're done making excuses. Forever.
You're done wasting time. You're going to work 80 hours a week if need be to fund your business or lifestyle. You're going to set goals and accomplish them no matter what stands in your way.
This year, you're going to grab life by the throat and not let go until it gives you everything you want.
But how badly do you want it? Your move.
Till next week.
Fathi
