8-principles-for-success

1. Extreme open-mindedness Kevin Trudeau borrowed a concept from Freemasonry I've never forgotten: the "teachability index" — willingness to learn × willingness to accept change. Most people stop learning after school and score low. A rarer few love to learn but still resist changing their minds, even when shown something better. I want the people around me high on both: open to learning, and willing to actually change.

2. A true growth mindset Carol Dweck's Mindset is one of my favorite books. In a growth mindset, ability is a starting point you develop through effort. In a fixed mindset, talent is treated as static and success is supposed to arrive without work. I picture it as climbing a muddy mountain — stop climbing and you start sliding. I also love Tom Bilyeu's definition: success is building a skill that lets you do something well that helps other people. Failure is simply not trying.

3. An internal locus of control Related to a growth mindset, but not the same. Locus of control is how much you believe you shape your own outcomes versus blaming outside forces. Study after study finds the same trait in successful people: an internal locus of control. The opposite is a victim mindset.

4. Perspective management Maybe the most important one. The older I get, the less my emotions swing — fewer manic highs and crushing lows, a steadier baseline (part of why Stoicism resonates). I once lost a brand-new pair of Persols off a boat doing 30+ mph in Capri. Everyone scrambled to turn around; I knew they were gone, gave myself about ten seconds of disappointment, and chose to enjoy the rest of the trip. When something's out of your control, you can only do two useful things: ask what you can learn, and shorten how long it owns you. I like Chip Conley's equations — Disappointment = Expectation − Reality. The shortest path to happiness: start and end the day with gratitude.

5. Detachment from ego Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now explains why this matters. Most of our daily thoughts repeat, and most are ego, biology, or social conditioning. A thought experiment for anyone who believes in life after death: which of those thoughts would you actually take with you? Probably none — only your relationships and the good you created.

6. Don't sweat the small stuff — and think big Two book titles, two ideas that seem opposite but belong together. One keeps life in perspective: it's short, and most things matter less than they feel like they do. The other expands what you believe is possible: aim past the moon. Held at once, they let you treat everything as both vitally important and ultimately small.

7. Focus on what you want Tony Robbins notices that when he asks people what they want, they tell him what they don'twant — "I don't want to feel tired" instead of "I want to feel energized." What you focus on grows. Be solutions-oriented: ask how we can, not why we can't.

8. An abundance mindset The opposite of scarcity, and easy to spot — "crabs in a barrel" is the giveaway. Scarcity says there isn't enough, and someone else's win is your loss. Abundance says there's more than enough, and the people succeeding around me actually help me. I want everyone to win.