Play long-term games:

Play long-term games.

Life is an infinite game.

The relationships you develop have infinite potential.

You have no idea where they’ll end up.

If you approach each relationship with a short-term mindset and think about what you can take from the other person, you’re already losing. 

You’ll never be able to develop deep relationships like that.

Think instead 

‘What can I offer this person? 

How can I be of value?

How can I help them help me?’

If you offer something with no expectation of return, over time you’ll be surprised how much people will pay you back more than you could ever imagine.

Reciprocity – a concept told in the book ‘Influence’ by Robert Cialdini, which I have mentioned several times before.

People want to give to those who give to them.

Another hack that Benjamin Franklin first discovered seems counterintuitive until you understand reciprocity - If you ask someone to do a small favour for you, they actually like you more.

They trust you because why would someone ask of them for a favour randomly?

It keeps you closer to the person because, in their head, you owe them something.

Human psychology is such a fascinating topic.

How humans think should be required reading.

If you understand psychology and a few other disciplines, you have such an advantage over other people.

Imagine knowing how other people think or act before they do just based on how they make decisions – that’s a superpower.

Sure, humans are irrational beings that can surprise you at any time, yet they follow a lot of patterns.

Most of us are just zombies walking around not sure what life even means.

We go about every day focused on the short-term games and where we’re getting our next dopamine hit.

We love the short-term satisfaction.

We have a much more difficult time delaying it.

Why would you delay satisfication if you could always get it?

Drugs, social media, relationships, alcohol, sex, weed, video games, whatever your vice is.

Why delay gratification when it’s instant?

Because that’s where the real gains are.

Once you understand the power of compounding, your life changes forever.

But are you willing to wait for years?

People don’t want to think about a payout that will come years from now.

Why would you start something if you don’t see a payout for years?

But that’s where you have an advantage over everyone else.

You can set yourself up for success as you grow older because you’ve put in the time.

You’ve committed to the work.

You’ve committed to failure. The grind, day in day out working to better yourself just a little bit.

Day to day it will feel like you’re not going anywhere but that work compounds over time.

Knowledge compounds just like money.

If you keep committing to the work of bettering yourself, you’ll eventually see exponential gains.

You’ll be so much farther ahead of everyone else, even when you’re so young.

That’s sometimes what my life feels like.

My journey just began, yet other people may think I’ve accomplished a lot.

Becoming a doctor. Leaving medicine. Moving to venture capital. Writing 1100+ journal entries. Creating 500 blog posts in a single year. Reading over 150 books in 3 years. Traveling to 55+ countries before I turned 21.

That’s a lot.

Yet I haven’t done anything.

So what?

A lot of that I got because of luck.

I didn’t earn all of that.

A lot of it was given to me.

Why did I get so lucky?

Why was I the sperm that won the race and was born into a family that could afford all the opportunities in the world?

Why did I get so lucky?

Why me?

I asked myself those question so many times growing up.

There’s nothing you can do about it.

All you can do is be grateful.

Sure I had to work for some of what I’ve done, but I don’t end up in certain opportunities without so many other people opening a door for me.

I knocked on the door, but they had to open it.

But what no one can ever take away from me is I had to step through the door, even when it seemed crazy.

Move around the world at 17 knowing no one.

Leave your career at 23 for an industry you barely knew existed.

Moving to a country where English isn’t the primary language on your own.

I had to walk through those doors.

I may sound like this person who’s so sure of taking advantage of the moments, but I was terrified.

I had no idea how they would turn out.

Are you really comfortable leaving everything you’ve ever known for an experience that you have no context for?

To really experience the world for all it has to offer, you have to jump into the unknown.

You have to have faith.

You have to trust yourself and your decision-making.

Even if you don’t, you still have to do it.

Just adapt.

We’re all figuring it out on the fly.

Your parents and grandparents who look like they have life figured out?

They’re lying.

No one has any idea what they’re doing.

They’ve just lived through more experiences than us because they’ve existed for longer than we have.

How can you learn more about the world without having all the time they’ve had?

Read.

Read about the world.

Not the news or the social media garbage you see every day.

Read books and not ones that have come out recently.

Read about history.

Read about the world before you existed.

Understand how people operated and learn about their stories.

Those stories tend to get repeated over time.

If you understand a bit of history, you realize there are patterns.

Humans are still just as flawed as they were thousands of years ago.

We haven’t evolved enough yet to be any different than we were before.

Yet one thing that stands out amongst those who made a massive difference is they played long term games

You have to play long term games.

Once you appreciate the value of long-term games, life becomes a lot more fun.