No Bonus Points for Hard Mode

Shaan Puri believes that while you can succeed anywhere and in any circumstance, you should actively work to increase your probability of success rather than make things unnecessarily difficult. He emphasizes that self-selecting into better networks, choosing the right projects, and being intentional about your environment are far more important than simply working hard.

Key Points:

• Networks Are Critical to Success:

  • Moving to San Francisco or joining powerful networks is worth more than the incremental cost (rent, taxes)
  • Being in the "white hot center" of your industry compounds over time, especially early in your career
  • Your income and thoughts will average out to the five people you spend the most time with
  • Some networks are really powerful, some are pretty weak - choose wisely

• No Bonus Points for Hard Mode:

  • You can win anywhere, but why make things harder on yourself?
  • There's no reward for decreasing your odds of success
  • It's about trade-offs - increase your probabilities, don't decrease them
  • Making things easier isn't cheating, it's smart

• Hard Work Is Overrated:

  • Hard work is maybe the 4th or 5th most important variable for success
  • Successful people say "hard work" because it sounds good and gives them air cover
  • It implies everyone had an equal shot, which isn't true

• What Actually Matters More Than Hard Work:

  1. Project selection - what you work on is far more important than how hard you work
  2. Who you work with - matters a ton
  3. Then timing, luck, and other variables including hard work

• The Value of Hard Work:

  • Good at developing skill, especially in your twenties when you have more time
  • Most projects fail but the skills stick with you
  • Early on, you don't have good judgment so you can throw hours at the problem
  • As you get older with less time, your judgment has to make up for lack of hours

• Info Diet and Self-Selection:

  • Your "info diet" shapes your thoughts - consume the same content as everyone else, have the same thoughts
  • Differentiate your info diet if you want differentiation in results
  • Actively choose which networks to opt into (Twitter, TikTok, specific communities)
  • What you do with your free time is upstream of the results you want downstream

• The Flywheel Effect:

  • When you enjoy something, you do it all the time
  • Because you do it all the time, you get really good at it
  • Because you get really good at it, you get results
  • Without enjoyment, you only work to the extent of willpower - no flywheel, just so-so results