None of my ideas are original:

None of my ideas are original.

Zero.

They’re just a combination of many concepts from a variety of disciplines.

We look at geniuses as original thinkers but they’re not.

They just take concepts from different fields and combine them together.

You could argue combining ideas makes them original, but the ideas themselves have existed for long before they put them together.

One thing that does stand out amongst those who are very successful is they read.

Not just social media or articles on their phone.

They stop and read books.

They learn through the stories of history and try to figure out a way to implement the lessons into their lives.

They apply what they learn because it’s one thing to just read books.

Einstein has a great quote about this: ‘Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuit. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.’

You can’t just read concepts, you have to use them.

You have to figure out how you can use the lessons of history in your own life to better yourself and accomplish what you want.

Through that journey, you have to accept there will be many moments of failure. Many moments of negativity. Many times where no one else believes in what you’re trying to accomplish.

No problem.

You just have to keep pushing.

Keep trying to better yourself.

Focus on the little wins. 

The small steps forward.

History reminds us from the greatest in the world that they didn’t accomplish what they did without massive failure.

Sometimes for decades.

Think about that.

Decades of failure.

Decades where no one believes you.

Where people laugh and criticize you.

Yet they stuck with something long enough and eventually it paid off.

It won’t pay off for everyone.

Remember, history is written by the winners.

The ones who lived long enough, won the wars and had the time to write their stories.

How many people existed that had all the opportunity in front of them, yet something out of their control took everything away?

That’s all of us every single day.

We have no idea how our life will end up.

You can plan for the future as much as you want.

Then life happens and all of it gets thrown out the window.

I never thought I was going to go to medical school in Scotland.

I never thought I was going to move to Amsterdam to work as a healthcare venture capitalist.

I never thought I would get a job at the best healthcare VC firm in my home country.

None of these things were planned, yet they all happened.

What comes next I have no idea.

What I can control is how I use my time.

The effort I put into my work.

That’s up to me, no one else.

I’m totally in control of how I use my time.

I hope I’m still a time billionaire and you best believe I’m not wasting it.

It’s not even about the next month or year or decade.

It’s about 20-40 years from now.

When the work that I’ve started today leads to exponential growth.

It’s already happened to me and I only started 3 years ago.

In 3 years I’ve read and taken notes on over 150 books, gotten to day 1156 in my journal, and created 480 blog posts in a single calendar year.

But that’s just the start.

In my mind, I haven’t done anything.

My journey is just beginning.

I’m slowly beginning to understand the world a little better than I did yesterday and that’s led to some pretty wild bets.

If they don’t pay off, no problem. I still have all this work I’ve done that no one can take away from me.

If it does, I literally will have written history before it happens.

My life changes forever.

I have all the proof. I have all the receipts. Best of all, I have my portfolio positioned for this outcome so even if people want to discredit me, it doesn’t matter.

That’s what I love about investing – show me your returns.

Can you do it when everyone is losing?

Do you still win when the rest of the financial world is facing huge losses?

That takes skill, conviction, and solid judgment, which you can’t build overnight.

All the work I’ve done on myself in the last little while could finally pay off in a massive way.

And if it doesn’t now, it will soon.

You don’t know when you’re moment will come but if you’re happy committing to the process, it will come.

It will be longer than you think, but it will come.

Keep taking risks. Keep working on yourself. Keep pushing through the self-doubt that eats at you every day.

You got this dude.

Keep learning about ideas from multiple disciplines and putting them together.

None of my ideas are original but they don’t have to be.

Do your thing and the world will come to you.