3 things I noticed from reviewing the lives of 21 great people

Note: When I use the word ‘successful’ in this post, I don’t necessarily mean financial or academic success. I mean achieving anything important to you. Becoming a popular TikTok influencer, becoming rich, becoming a manager in your office, the same principles apply.

It was a random Thursday evening and I was at the gym.

It was my standard routine. I put on my gloves, put in one of my earbuds and turned on a podcast to listen to while I exercised.

The day’s podcast was How to Take Over the World where the host picks a successful person from history or modern times and gives a detailed breakdown of their lives; from birth to the current day.

About 30 minutes into the final episode on George Washington, I chuckled in this funny way that I do when I realise something interesting.

After listening to breakdowns of the lives of 21 historically successful people, I think I had just identified a theme. A set of characteristics that seemed to cut across everyone that had done something successful.

I cross-checked these themes against the lives of other less popular but successful people that I knew and they seemed to still apply.

This is what I noticed:

1. They have the courage to fail

Successful people seem to always have the courage to take major steps even though there’s a chance that they will fail.

They risk embarrassment, financial loss and sometimes even their lives for something they believe.

They may often fail, but when they succeed, the benefits can be immense.

Think about it. Even in your school or place of work, the people who seem to get the most recognition are those who step up to do something even though there’s a clear risk of failing or being embarrassed.

In most cases, the bigger the risk of failure, the bigger the reward when things go well.

My favourite example of this is the story of the Wright brothers. They were running a successful bicycle company but decided to invest heavily into building the first functional aeroplane even though many had failed before them. Failure for them would have meant a major financial loss and embarrassment for them.

2. They go where there is a density of success

People who want to be successful always surround themselves with successful or aspiringly successful people. This could be in the form of friends, rivals or by moving to new cities or joining relevant communities (online or offline).

These places usually include people at the same level as them, people just above the level they are and some people who are where they want to be in the next 10 years.

It’s important for 2 reasons:

1. There’s joint learning. They don’t need to experience and learn everything for themselves, they can learn from the experiences of others and therefore grow at a faster pace than they would have alone.
2. They start to see that impossible things are possible because everyone around them is doing seemingly impossible things every day. This makes great things look feasible and approachable.

A good example of this is Leonardo DaVinci moving from his home town in Vinci to Florence, Italy. At the time, Florence was the center of culture, art and innovation. This allowed him to work in the studios of great artists of that era.

It’s possible that Da Vinci may have become a good artist if he stayed in his hometown. However, I doubt he would have become the great artist and inventor we know today if great artists and inventors didn’t surround him.

3. They are delusional

The final characteristic I noticed about people who have done great things is that they’re delusional. Yes, delusional.

They strongly believe in something that may or may not be true and they act accordingly.

From my observation, there are 2 categories of delusion:

Conscious delusion

This form of delusion is usually backed by knowledge and research while other times it’s just the belief that a higher power has ordained them to achieve great things. My favourite example is how Steve Jobs convinced the world that they don’t know what they want in a tech product and he was the one to deliver it to them.

Unconscious delusion

In this situation, the person doesn’t even know that they’re delusional. They don’t understand that what they’re trying to achieve is supposed to be ‘impossible’ so they do it anyway. A good example is how Alexander the Great started on his goal to conquer/unite the world probably because he was too inexperienced to realise how challenging it would be. It made him fearless and allowed him to take risks that other leaders wouldn’t.

In both cases, the delusion is sometimes so strong that they even convince others that what they believe is true. And with every win they get, the delusion or self-belief grows stronger.

As you reach the end of this post, I hope it makes you think.

I hope it makes you think and ask yourself:

Am I willing to stick out your neck for something I believe in?

Am I ready to go where there is a density of success?

Do I have so much belief in myself or something else that it almost feels like delusion?

The answers to these questions seem to be where greatness begins.