If you followed all the 'right' advice but still feel stuck, this truth will hurt...

Question everything. Ask WHY and hold nothing sacred in the pursuit of truth.

Why? You’re being lied to and mislead every, single, day.

That’s just the way our society works. By intention or not…

You know exactly what I’m talking about. Those ideas that are “common” in society and you hear growing up by adults all around you…

• “Go to college to be successful”

• “Work a 9-5”

• “Be realistic”

Funny part is ALL successful people do the opposite. Quite literally they tell you…

• “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition”

• “Work-Life balance doesn’t exist”

• “Be obsessed and think big”

After studying hundreds of billionaires & Olympic athletes, meeting them, and making thousands of dollars online…

I’ve realized, successful people all share the same thought patterns.

When I turned 22, fresh out of college, I decided to start a “business.” It took 8 months to earn my first dollar.

I had no experience or idea what to do... All I’d ever done in my life was charge people money for tennis lessons and food at restaurants.

Within the 14th month, I generated $87,000 in online business — 6 months after my first dollar.

Here’s the kicker: nothing I learned in college helped me do this.

It wasn’t the degree. It wasn’t luck. It wasn’t even raw talent.

It was this one truth:

You’re only as good as what you put into your mind.

Success Has Ingredients

There are awful chefs whose cooking puts you in the hospital with diarrhea…

There are also excellent chefs whose cooking has you licking the crumbs off your plate…

Both exist, so what’s the difference? What makes the best food?

You might think it’s the chef’s skill and technique… Although that is a large factor, what will separate the 1% of chefs vs the 0.01% of chefs is something else…

The 0.01% of chefs in the world obsess over sourcing the finest ingredients.

Sometimes they even start their own farms to control every element of the process.

Why? Because no matter how exceptional the technique, if you start with bad inputs, you end up with bad results.

Now, I’m no chef. Growing up, my mom’s food left you smiling with each bite. However, I took after my dad who loves engineering.

I saw the same thing when learning to code…

Coding is like giving a computer a set of instructions, kind of like a recipe, telling it exactly what to do, step by step, in a language it can understand.

Wait, doesn’t that sound more important than ingredients?

Inputs vs. Systems

In the software engineering world, this is known as: garbage in = garbage out.

Outputs derive from inputs. The giant misconception is: if you create a really good system, it doesn’t matter what you put into it…

The truth is, it does.

Doesn’t matter how good the system is, if you put garbage in you get garbage out.

Even with lower quality systems, you can input good data and get good data out.

What does this mean?

Your time as a software engineer is better spent sanitizing inputs than working on fancy processes — Doesn’t matter how good your plan is when it was created around inaccurate data.

Inputs > System

Software > Hardware

Humans are both software and hardware with inputs and systems.

…what exactly makes a person a genius?

Dean Simonton, spent his lifetime studying and analyzing the world’s greatest geniuses. He investigated the relationship between 2,000+ scientists and 700+ artists.

He wanted to see the inputs… what materials they consumed in their brain, to be processed and mixed together to produce specific outputs known as “genius.”

What he found was fascinating…

No one is born a genius.

Also, “Lone geniuses“ are very rare to find.

The biggest common denominator between geniuses is: Social network of geniuses.

Let’s use Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein for example. And lets ask an interesting question...

How were these geniuses interconnected through a social web/graph over time?

Zooming in, Isaac Newton had roughly 14 idols he studied from.

He learned a lot from Bacon, Copernicus, and Descartes. To tie this together let’s zoom out:

Inputs → System → Outputs

Inputs = He consumed their work.

System = Created new ideas from their thinking as a result of his own unique perspective.

Outputs = Newton’s Laws of Motion, Law of Universal Gravitation, and Calculus.

But wait!

What if someone took this output as an input and created something bigger from it?

Newton’s outputs actually created more geniuses… Albert Einstein learned from Newton as his greatest influence.

Albert Einstein’s output = Theory of relativity.

This is true for every field, not just science, we can observe the same in art.

It doesn't matter what we are looking at, a computer system or person’s ability to gather information, bad inputs create bad outputs.

Similar to the chefs, the smartest people obsess over sourcing the finest information.

You must improve your ability to gather the best information.

Better inputs = Better outputs

Improve the quality of your thoughts, to improve the quality of your work.

So here's the big question... how do these people think better than 99.99% of people?

They design their life to have a strict diet… Here's how:

4 Steps To Become A Genius.

If you follow these 4 steps, you'll forget about dogma. You'll enjoy your work, and you might enter a new tax bracket.

If you don't program yourself... other people will program YOU

So how can you program yourself to be genius?

Here’s the framework:

1) Choose Your Influences Wisely

Find the best information to accelerate growth.

Identify mentors or successful individuals you admire.

Who are your "giants"?

…you don't always need direct mentors. Instead, use your “giants” decision-making onto your life. Here's what I mean...

You don't always need to copy EVERYTHING the people you want to learn from do.

Sometimes it's as simple as asking, "What would Buffett do to achieve X?" Then doing it.

Warren Buffett reads 500 pages daily and compounds his knowledge — most people want his wealth but won't read a single book…

Avoid being ordinary — Choose the standard you want to live up to.

That saying about monkey see monkey do…

Audit the 5 people you spend the most time with… more importantly, the 5 people you want to become like!

Your support system will make or break you. Who you listen to will make or break you.

Make sure your inputs are good.

Raise your standard.

2) Filter Out the Noise

Do you spend most of your time on facebook, instagram, youtube, or the news?

Because if you do, I can guarantee your brain is rotting away at a fast rate… constantly being flushed with garbage… only to increase disorganized thoughts.

None of this is my opinion. It’s called “brain rot.”

It’s like burying all YOUR unique ideas under garbage…

Quite possibly the worst thing that can happen is: you give more attention to the latest news or meme over your own unique thoughts…

the world NEEDS your unique thoughts.

Stop doom-scrolling and consuming low-quality content. It’s destroying your brain.

Boredom is the birthplace of genius.

Deep work is critical and more difficult than ever! We are in an information economy…

it’s never been easier to become great, it’s also never been easier to do nothing.

Beware: Noise can also take shape in the well-intended advice of others…

Don’t follow the herd. Nothing extraordinary comes from ordinary.

Ask yourself: "Has this person done what I want to achieve?" If not, their advice is irrelevant.

My friend told me “that’s an awful thing to say.” The harsh truth is is you have FINITE attention and time in this life. Be picky about who you listen to and don’t feel bad.

Every genius in history had to face this same criticism.

This isn't about being mean - it's about being intentional.

Choose wisely… You are what you think.

Learn → Try it yourself → Grow

Make it a priority to find and consume the best inputs. Ignore and shut out bad inputs. Bad inputs can rot away good inputs.

3) Study How They Think

The greatest minds operate with higher-quality thoughts and mental models.

Don’t just learn WHAT they did… study WHY they did it. What frameworks, beliefs, and systems shaped their decisions?

Students who just try to memorize information and pound back what is remembered — usually pass in school and fail in life.

You must learn to view the world with multiple Mental Models.

Man with hammer tendency is using a hammer for every problem encountered. However, the hammer doesn’t always work and a different tool is required to do the best work.

Each mental model is a tool, and they each have to come from multiple disciplines…

because all the wisdom of the world cannot be found in one little academic department.

4) Take Action on Better Inputs

Thoughts → Actions → Outcomes

Improve your thoughts first, and the rest follows…

Everyone is free to choose how to think. Which is why if you’re happy or unhappy that’s self-made. ouch.

BUT don’t worry, it’s actually great news! Because this means we can change how we think.

This is a recipe for happiness in life: Pursue growth, surpass your potential, and use the power of your thoughts to chase your dreams.

If you’d like a recipe for misery: don’t learn new things, never try anything new or worthwhile, and believe everything is out of your control.

Avoiding what doesn’t work takes nothing fancy, and makes a big difference… but it’s uncomfortable and there is effort required, so people take the path of least resistance.

Stop watching Netflix → enroll in courses

Stop going out drinking → go to sleep early

Stop talking about stupid shit → read, learn, and grow your mind instead of poisoning it

This is a Universal law that you can use and apply in anything you want in life…

Trying to get smarter? Better inputs.

Trying to build a business? Better Inputs.

Trying to get healthier? Better Inputs.

Greatness is not born but rather made. Study it. Visualize it. Create it.

1. Audit your inputs. Who are you learning from?

2. Focus on giants. Learn from the best actions—not the loudest.

3. Upgrade your thoughts. Better thoughts will transform your life and business.

4. Take action. You are the result of your actions.

After learning how geniuses think, you might never be the same again.

That’s all for this one,

- Val

PS - Had to make this meme because it still hurts remembering how many years I spent trying to please teachers instead of learning from giants