The Biggest Predictor of Future Success

Summary

• The biggest predictor of future success is past success.
• Stack your wins by starting small. For example, if getting out of bed is hard, celebrate that as a win.
• Set goals gradually, like adding weight to a bar in the gym.
• You might want to take big risks, but first look at your past achievements to build confidence.
• If you were disciplined at school or with exercise, you can generalize that you might also be disciplined at your job.
• There's no guarantee past success will always predict future success, but it's often a reasonable expectation.
• Building on small wins creates momentum and increases confidence.

Video

How To Take Action

Suggestions for Implementing Strategies to Achieve Success

I would suggest starting with stacking small wins. If you’re struggling to get going, celebrate the tiny victories. Did you get out of bed today? Awesome, that’s a win. Start here and build up.

Set gradual goals. Think of it like adding weight to a bar in the gym. Start light and slowly add more. If you’ve never taken a big risk before, break it down into smaller, manageable steps. For instance, if you want to launch a new product, start by validating the idea with a small audience first before a full launch.

Look at your past achievements. Reflect on moments where you have been disciplined or successful. It could be anything—from sticking to a workout routine to keeping up with your studies. Use these past successes to build confidence. If you were disciplined in one area, that discipline is a skill you can apply elsewhere, like at your job.

Use your past success to inform your future steps. Even if it doesn’t guarantee future success, it’s reasonable to expect it can help. If you did well in the past, the same habits and efforts can likely lead to similar outcomes now.

Finally, build momentum through these small wins. As you stack up the successes, no matter how small, your confidence will increase. Start small and keep going, each step adding up to larger achievements.

By celebrating your wins, setting gradual goals, and using past achievements to bolster confidence, you’ll create a steady path to greater success.

Full Transcript

the biggest predictor of future success is past success and so I think it's like stacking those wins as low as a common denominator as you can I mean you know for somebody who's absolutely just like sucking a life right now then it's like if you got out of bed today then cool call A W you know what I mean like just like you'd add weight to a bar you add weight to the goals you might be like well I want to take this big jump but I've never never done that before like how do I take this jump how do I take this risk right well it's like can you generalize some of the other things you've done in the past that would give you some level of confidence that this is not unreasonable if I've been really disciplined at school and exercise then it might be I might it might follow that I'll be relative disciplined with my job is it guaranteed no but I could still make a generalization that that's it's plausible