From Cal Newport [1], the Paradox of Success has two parts:
- Most people think they know what it takes to be successful.
- Most people are not successful.
The idea behind the paradox of success is that, if so many people know how to be successful, why aren’t more of them doing it?
Luck and drive certainly play a role, but a better explanation is that most people don’t actually know what it takes to be successful. Otherwise, they’d be able to achieve it.
In some ways, this idea is freeing. If you admit that you don’t know exactly how to be successful in a pursuit, or even that you might not know the best way, then you can allow yourself to find the methods that do work well, instead of operating on false assumptions.
It’s because of this paradox that I love personal development products.
Personal Development and the Paradox of Success
I’ve bought dozens of personal development products over the last several years. The way I see it, if I’m not successful at a pursuit, that means I can probably learn a lot from people who have succeeded. Even if every product isn’t a life-changing experience, there’s still enough good ideas that I can save years worth of wasted effort doing what won’t work.
A recent example of this was when I was trying to learn French. I had a lot of hypotheses about the best way to learn a foreign language, but I wasn’t making terribly fast progress at it. Then I discovered Benny Lewis, who speaks eight languages and regularly reaches conversational fluency in under three months. Here was someone who was much more successful than me, who I could learn from.
I used his guide, figured out some things I was doing inefficiently, and my French level improved a lot faster after that. The value far outweighed the cost.
The Only-72 “Rock Your Life” Deal
If you’ve been considering getting either my rapid learning course [2], or any other personal development product lately, now is the perfect chance to act. My friends Baker and Karol have spent the last month compiling $1087 worth of personal development products, including my rapid-learning course and Benny’s Language Hacking Guide [3].
The best part is, they’re offering this carefully combined package for only $97 [4].
My course is normally $67, but with this, you’d be able to get over $1000 in high-quality advice for only an extra $30. Click here to see the other 21 courses [4] included as a bonus in the deal.
The only downside is that the deal only lasts 72 hours. In three days, it will be gone, and you’ll have to hunt out your own resources and pay full price.
Check it out here [4].