How To Get Ahead Of 99% Of People

You ready for a little truth bomb?

Almost everything you've been told about success is wrong.

You've probably heard it all.

Get up at 4am.

Cold showers.

Write down your goals three times a day like you're manifesting some kind of magic.

It all sounds nice,

Doesn't it?

Inspiring,

Even?

Well,

Newsflash.

Those hacks.

That advice?

It's the stuff everyone is doing.

And if everyone's doing it,

I hate to break it to you,

But it's not going to make you extraordinary.

But hang tight,

Because we're going to take a wrecking ball to those tired old clichés and dig into something deeper.

Something real.

Here's the deal.

To get ahead of 99% of people,

You've got to step into territory that almost no one dares to explore.

Because success?

Real success?

It doesn't come from a clipboard checklist or the perfect productivity app.

It comes from doing what almost no one else is willing to do.

And,

Spoiler,

It's not going to make you universally adored.

But that's exactly what makes it work.

Now,

Before you mentally start packing your bags for monk-mode headquarters,

Let me tell you,

This isn't some gimmicky,

Secret society mindset tip.

It's simpler.

Harder.

But simpler.

And by the end of this audio,

You're not just going to find out what it takes to get ahead of 99% of people,

You're also going to realise that most people don't even want to.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.

Let's start at the foundation.

What does success actually require?

I'll give you the cheat sheet.

It's three things.

First,

You need a contrarian idea.

Not just any idea,

But one that makes people stop and say,

Whoa,

Wait,

You're serious.

Second,

You need to be right about that idea,

Which is harder than you think.

Because most unconventional ideas turn out to be,

Well,

Terrible.

And then third,

You've got to execute like your life depends on it.

Sounds straightforward,

Right?

But it's not.

Oh,

No,

It's not.

Let me break it down for you.

Here's the first hurdle.

Most people don't have contrarian ideas.

Not even one.

Hear me out.

People follow the current.

They see where everyone else is going,

And,

Like salmon upstream,

They just follow along.

It's comfortable.

It's normal.

But that's the problem.

Take Albert Einstein.

You know,

The giant brain behind the theory of relativity?

That guy.

Way before he was a household name,

Einstein spent years as a patent clerk.

Not like some glamorous lab researcher.

A clerk.

And while everyone else was busy climbing ladders in academia,

He was off in his downtime scribbling notes,

Questioning everything we believed about time and space.

People thought he was nuts.

Physics was settled,

They said.

This kid with his messy hair and weird thought experiments?

Hard pass.

Fast forward,

And here we are talking about him as one of the greatest minds the world's ever seen.

See,

Einstein didn't just sit there and nod along with what everyone knew to be true.

He asked the unaskable.

And look,

I'm not saying you need to go rewrite the laws of physics,

But if you're walking the same path as everyone else,

You're going to end up exactly where they do.

In the middle of the pack.

Comfortable?

Sure.

Remarkable.

Not even close.

But here's where things get tricky.

Because let's say you actually do have a contrarian idea.

Congrats.

You're already miles ahead of most people.

But here's the rub.

Most contrarian ideas are,

How do I put this delicately,

Wrong.

Like,

Really wrong.

And that's the next level of this whole thing.

Being a correct contrarian.

You know Elon Musk?

Dude's not exactly famous for playing it safe.

Back in the early 2000s,

Musk decided that private companies could one day dominate the space industry.

Everyone called him insane.

NASA was the big dog in town.

How could some random paycheck-burning start-up compete?

But guess what?

Musk didn't just have a contrarian idea.

He was right.

And SpaceX?

Now it's not only launching astronauts,

But it's making reusable rockets the new norm.

It's easy to admire that now.

But think about what it took in the moment.

He had to stick to his guns while people laughed at him.

Doubted him.

Probably told him to just go enjoy his millions from PayPal and stop wasting time on pipe dreams.

It would have been easier to quit.

But because he stayed the course,

He rewrote the entire game.

So how can you tell if your contrarian idea is the next SpaceX or just a bad science project waiting to implode?

Honestly,

It's mostly trial and error.

This takes relentless curiosity,

A willingness to be wrong,

A lot,

And a level of self-discipline that most people run screaming from.

And even if you do manage to nail a correct contrarian idea,

You're not done.

Nope.

Because this is where step three comes crashing in.

Execution.

But here's something people misunderstand about execution.

It's not about grinding yourself into dust.

That's what all the Instagram hustle gurus would have you believe,

Right?

Team no sleep.

Work harder than everyone else.

Blah,

Blah,

Blah.

Wrong.

Execution isn't about how many hours you spend hammering at your dream.

It's about how smartly you wield your energy toward the right thing.

Think about it like this.

J.

K.

Rowling wrote Harry Potter as a single mum scraping by.

She didn't have some high-end writer's retreat or a perfectly curated morning flow.

She had an idea that was too good to ignore,

And she executed by showing up in the middle of all the chaos to put words on the page until the world caught up with what she saw in her head.

But the secret sauce wasn't her routine.

It was the fact that her story,

The boy wizard with the lightning scar,

Was so unique,

So quietly brilliant,

It was destined to leave a mark if she saw it through.

Here's where people go wrong.

They pour all their energy into executing on ideas that are,

Well,

It's like trying to climb Everest in Crocs.

Tons of effort,

But probably not going to end well.

What matters more than hard work is choosing the right mountain to climb,

And that brings me to something we really,

Really need to talk about.

Execution gets a ton of hype.

The morning routines,

The productivity hacks.

People eat that stuff up like it's the answer to all their problems.

Because it's visible,

You know?

It looks good on social media.

But here's the kicker.

While yes,

Execution is absolutely necessary,

It is almost never the thing that determines the scale of your success.

Think of Warren Buffett,

One of the richest dudes alive.

You'd think maybe he's using some hidden Pinterest board for life hacks,

Right?

Wrong.

The guy's morning routine is grabbing breakfast at McDonald's.

Seriously.

What makes Warren Buffett Warren Buffett isn't how he executes.

The guy isn't running 17-hour days.

It's the literal decades he spent spotting golden nuggets in the stock market that almost nobody else was paying attention to.

And that's the thing people miss.

Obsession with daily habits or grind culture just isn't enough.

Hustle matters,

Yeah.

But it's not the full equation.

If success was as simple as buying the right planner or mimicking Kobe Bryant's pre-game meal – grape soda and pepperoni pizza,

By the way – then everybody would already be at the top.

But they're not.

Because the hardest part about success isn't just working hard.

Anyone can work hard if they have to.

It's being right.

About the right idea,

At the right time.

But we're not done.

Because even if you've got a killer contrarian idea,

And even if you're right about it,

Here comes another curveball.

But here's the kicker.

Being right isn't even the hardest part.

Nope.

It gets worse.

Because even if you've got the right contrarian idea and you've nailed the timing and you're ready to pour yourself into execution,

Here comes the real gut punch.

You're going to piss people off.

Here's something no one tells you.

Nobody likes a contrarian.

Think about it.

When you go against the grain,

You make people uncomfortable.

It's human nature.

We like things to stay the same.

Predictable.

Safe.

When you stand up and say,

Hey,

I think differently.

People's first reaction isn't curiosity.

It's resistance.

Sometimes even outright hostility.

They'll scoff.

Roll their eyes.

Maybe even stop inviting you to things because,

Well,

You're just too much.

Let me tell you a quick story about Nikola Tesla,

The man who gave us alternating current.

You know,

The electricity you use every single day.

Back in the day,

Thomas Edison,

Yeah,

That Edison,

Was the big shot inventor everyone thought had it all figured out.

Edison was all in on direct current electricity.

But Tesla came along and said,

Actually,

Alternating current is faster,

Cheaper,

And works over longer distances.

What did Edison do?

Did he invite Tesla over for tea to discuss their differences?

Number.

He publicly ridiculed him.

Sabotaged him.

At one point,

Edison even staged public demonstrations electrocuting animals to prove Tesla's idea was dangerous.

And yet,

Here we are,

Living in a world powered by Tesla's vision.

Did he get the last laugh?

Sure.

But imagine what it took for him to stand his ground while an entire industry and one of its most powerful players basically tried to bury him.

That's the reality of being a contrarian.

It's not just about having thick skin.

It's about having armour.

Because when you dare to do things differently,

You will face pushback.

And it's not always from people you expect.

I'm talking about your friends,

Your family,

The people closest to you.

When I started my own journey,

Trust me,

I wasn't immune to this.

The day I quit my safe job to chase a different kind of career,

Half my friends disappeared.

They didn't get it.

They couldn't see what I saw.

And here's the thing.

I don't blame them.

I really don't.

People fear what they don't understand.

But if you want to play at the top level,

You have to get comfortable with discomfort.

You have to be okay with people thinking you're nuts.

Or reckless.

Or irresponsible.

If you're waiting for the world to cheer you on,

You'll be waiting forever.

And that's not even the worst part.

Here's the second reality check.

To be a correct contrarian,

You're going to be an incorrect contrarian a lot more often.

Let's be real.

Most ideas that go against the grain are wrong for a reason.

They've been tried.

They've failed.

Horribly.

And now they're just floating in the universe as cautionary tales.

So when you take your shot,

Know this.

The odds aren't in your favour.

Think about Oprah Winfrey.

Today,

She's one of the most influential people on the planet.

But back when she was starting out,

It was rejection after rejection.

Early in her career,

She was told she didn't have the right look for television.

That she was too emotional.

A bad fit,

Can you imagine?

But Oprah kept going.

Her belief in her vision,

Not someone else's,

Led her to create an entire empire based on connecting with people in a way nobody else could even dream of.

She revolutionised what daytime TV could be.

But for every correct contrarian moment Oprah had,

There were probably a dozen missteps along the way.

That's just how it works.

Being wrong more often than you're right isn't a sign of failure.

It's the cost of entry.

Because every wrong step gets you closer to the right one.

Here's the catch,

Though.

You can't hedge your bets.

You can't dip your toe into contrarian thinking while keeping one foot planted safely in what's normal.

It's all or nothing.

And that all-or-nothing mentality?

It's exhausting.

Which leads me to the final bitter pill about success.

It doesn't make you happy.

Or at least not the kind of happy you're envisioning right now.

Look at Anthony Bourdain.

The guy had it all.

Fame,

Money,

A career that let him travel the world and eat incredible food.

By all outward measures he'd made it.

And yet he constantly spoke about his inner battles,

The loneliness,

The pressure,

The struggle to find peace.

Why?

Because success doesn't fix you.

If you're unhappy,

Insecure or dissatisfied when you're starting out,

Guess what?

Reaching the top only amplifies that.

Let me say that again.

Success doesn't create happiness.

It magnifies whatever's already there.

So if you're pinning all your hopes on hitting that next milestone,

Thinking it'll heal your wounds or fill the gap,

It's not going to happen.

Success isn't the band-aid people want it to be.

Here's the twist though.

Just because success doesn't guarantee happiness doesn't mean it's not worth pursuing.

It just means you need to ask yourself the right question.

Not,

How do I get ahead of 99% of people?

But why do I even want to?

Sit with that for a minute.

Seriously,

Why?

Is it about validation?

Proving people wrong?

Escaping something you don't like about your life right now?

Or is it because there's something burning inside you?

A vision you can't ignore,

Even if you tried?

Because here's the truth.

If your motivation isn't coming from that deep,

Gut-level knowing that you just have to do this,

The journey's going to chew you up and spit you out before you even get close.

But if it is,

If the reason you're doing this is so real,

So vital,

That the idea of not pursuing it feels impossible,

Then congratulations,

You're already ahead of most people.

This whole audio boils down to one thing.

Success isn't simple.

And extreme success,

The kind that puts you in that top 1%,

It's messy,

Complicated,

And not nearly as glamorous as it looks.

But it's also deeply,

Deeply personal.

So here's my challenge for you.

Forget the morning routines.

Forget the 10-step plans.

Forget the blueprints that promised to unlock unlimited potential.

Ask yourself one brutally honest question.

What does success mean for me?

Not for your parents.

Not for social media.

Not for your friends,

Your co-workers,

Or that annoying neighbour down the street who somehow got a Tesla.

For you.

Because here's the most freeing thing you'll ever realise.

You don't have to play anyone else's game.

You don't have to chase anyone else's definition of success.

You get to write your own rules.

But if you're ready to step into this arena,

If you're ready to face the doubt,

The failure,

And the endless questions,

You've got to do one thing above all else.

Stop waiting for permission.

Because no one's going to hand it to you.

You have to take it.

If you enjoyed today's talk,

I believe that you would love our top-rated courses here on Insight Timer.

Over 4,

000 students already went through our courses,

And the responses are amazing.

Our goal here at Healing Waves is to help you on your transformation journey by combining ancient wisdom with modern science.

Thank you for being with me today.

I appreciate you,

And I hope to see you again soon.