A couple of months ago, Alex Hormozi released a video titled “How To Win At Anything” on his official YouTube channel with 1.2 million views. The 47 minute long video has so many AMAZING takeaways for anyone looking for success in any area of their life – be it business, health or even relationships.

Keeping those who are short of time in mind, I decided to create a concise summary of this video here with my key takeaways!

Alex starts of by breaking down his entire presentation into 5 segments:

• What do you need to do to win? (Win – aka – Impress the future version of you)
• How to win at anything?
• Why should you win?
• Who should you become to win?
• When should you work on winning?

What do you need to do?

You need to figure out ways that you are guaranteed to lose.

This process, also known as inversion, is effective because it is much easier for our brain to find problems than solutions. Here are the X steps to use inversion as a tool to figure out how you can win:

Step 1: Imagine the least successful version of yourself.

Step 2: Brainstorm what you will do (or not do) to guarantee that you will lose.

Whenever you want to start something new, think of all the things you can do to guarantee that you will lose in the fewest moves. The list will look different for everyone and every situation.

Step 3: Invert what you need to do to lose so that you can win.

In other words, simply note down the exact opposite action of what you need to do to lose to win. It may look something like this:

This inversion activity reminded me about an article I wrote about the 5 biggest business mistakes in my life and how because of these mistakes (losses), I will do things differently today.

How do you do it?

In this segment, Alex spills the truth about the real reason why most of us are procrastinating or not doing the things we need to do to win. It is because we lack clarity. In other words, we have not broken down what we need to into the most basic form.

The more skilled you are, the more general a command can be and you can follow it.

The less skilled you are, the more broken down the command must be for you to follow it.

So break down any task into its simplest form as shown in the example below, if you want to follow it:

Notice how the steps Alex Hormozi has broken down a general command into is so easy that even a toddler can follow!

For example, if you want to teach someone to be charismatic in a sales role, you can break down the instruction of “being charismatic” for them into the following so that they can win:

Note that the new instruction that has been broken down into the simplest form above has been operationalised. Meaning it has been explained by actions or behaviours you can see with your eyes.

Alex Hormozi further explains this with another example. Of how to break down the task of being patient to someone who is investing. In it’s simplest form, patience will be defined as shown on the below slide (and not the dictionary definition):

Another key pointer that Alex highlights is that all skills can be learnt and taught.

But the extent to which you can master a skill is what determines how good you are at it and how much you can succeed in it. For example:

For example: The more you can practice being patient in various different situations, the more “patient” you will describe yourself as and the more you can win.

Next, Alex goes on to define learning, intelligence and confidence as follows.

Learning simply means being presented with the same condition/situation, but acting, behaving or responding differently. In other words: same condition, new behaviour!

Intelligence is how fast you change your behaviour when presented with the same situation. The faster you can change your behavior when presented with the same condition, the more intelligent you are.

Confidence is the percentage likelihood that something happens. And confident is domain specific: For example, I can be a confident SEO coach but a not as confident dad.

So how do you increase your confidence percentage?

You need proof.

And how do you create proof?

By doing it a lot of times.

In summary, here is how you can win:

• Step 1: Break your task down into baby steps (into its most basic level)
• Step 2: Follow each and every baby step that you have broken down the task to
• Step 3: Practice the same steps over and over again until you are certain you will win

Why should you do it?

External Conditions:

The answer is simple. You should win because you get more for what you put in when you stick to things. if you don’t stick to things, you will just end up hopping from one opportunity to another without success in anything you do. Or what Alex terms as “opportunity hopping”.

One example Alex highlights is about how most people who end up wealthy stick to opportunities even during hard times. This is in fact how wealth is created (see screenshot below).

If you still doubt Alex’s point around getting compounding returns by sticking to things, simply ask yourself the question below.:

Alex re-emphasises his point that during down times are where champions are made. It is when skills are sharpened.

And if you can win when your external conditions are hard, you can crush it and win way bigger when your external conditions get easy. A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor, isn’t it?

So every time you feel like giving up on something, remember the above quote:

What makes you extraordinary isn’t what you do. It is how long you are willing to do it for.

Internal Conditions:

Another point that Alex highlights is that your motivation is proportional to your deprivation.

If someone is drowning in the sea, they are very motivated to breathe. But unmotivated to have sex. Obviously!

You are motivated to eat when you are deprived of food and hungry.

You are motivated to drink water when you are deprived of water and thirsty.

You are motivated to sleep when you are deprived or rest and sleep.

Because your body clearly knows when you are hungry, when you are thirsty and when you are tired. You perceive a gap because your deprivation in these cases are physiological.

However, when it comes to money, your deprivation is not physiological, it is psychological.

Meaning you only feel poor if you perceive a large gap between where you are and where you really want to be. This can be illustrated visually as shown below:

And based on the above visual, isn’t it clear that the guy who is earning $1 million a month is more deprived than the guy who is earning $5000 a month?

Hence, even though the rich guy is earning more, he is a lot more motivated than the poorer guy.

So if you want to feel more motivated, you can simply change your environment from an environment that will not push you to set any standard to an environment that changes your minimum standard.

Our environment stretches the gap and you experience the deprivation. Rich people are more deprived of money than poor people because they compare themselves to richer people than poor people do.

But instead of comparing yourself to others and making yourself feel deprived, what should you do instead to stay internally motivated?

You need to compare yourself to the person you genuinely want to become.

Who should you become?

This is another common question people ask that Alex Hormozi addresses in this video.

Who do you need to become to win?

Alex’s answer: You just need to do what the person you want to become does over and over and over again. Then you will eventually get similar results to them and become the person you want to become.

See screenshots below for details!

When should you do it?

Finally, Alex Hormozi addresses one of the most common reasons people give for not working towards something they want in their lives. People give reasons like “Now isn’t a good time”, “I don’t have time” or simply “I’m too busy”.

What do people mean?

Are these reasons valid?

When should you work towards winning at the things you want in life?

To explain this, Alex breaks down “time” into the following:

Macro Time (Seasonal) as a reason – “Economically, it is not a good time for me to start doing this. Or it is not a good season in my life to do it right now.”

Micro Time (Hour by Hour) as a reason – “I don’t have any time to allocate for this throughout my day.”

When/Then Fallacy – “When I get/have more of this (time/money), only then will I be able to do it.”

Now that we have broken down time in 3 different aspects, lets see when is the best time to start working on your goals!

On a Macro level, when is the best time to do it?

As surprising as it may seem, the best time to change your behaviour and start working on what you want is when you are busiest.

Why?

When you learn how to make it work in the worst condition, you will stick to it in better conditions.

Also, when you get busy again, you will be able to stick with your behaviour as shown in the diagram below.

This means that you are far more likely to achieve what you want than if you start when you are “not busy”.

On a Micro level, what if you don’t have time for it?

In this case, it is time to look at your life hour by hour and ask yourself this question:

Do you think that there was someone who had less hours make it happen?

Yes.

This is proof that if they can do it “with less time than you”, you can too.

Because everyone has the same 24 hours and it is about how you allocate your time. So if you notice yourself falling into this excuse, look at what you are doing in your 24 hours and cut off the 90% of things you are doing that is not bringing you closer to what you want.

To emphasise his point, Alex puts it bluntly as follows:

If you are smart and busy, then you surely cannot be broke.

If you are smart and broke, you are not working hard (busy).

If you are busy and broke, you are likely not working smart (and doing the wrong stuff). – which is the case for most people.

This being the case, you need to work on elimination and not addition. Eliminate the wrong things you are doing that is not helping you make progress!

This will then give you more time to do the right things you need to get you progress.

Are you still saying “I really don’t have time” after reading all Alex has shared above?

Then Alex states the fact that in this case:

“You will never achieve the success you want and it is not your fault.

Does hearing this make you feel better?

Probably not.

So let’s assume that you have got the time and you are spending it the wrong way!”

Should you do it WHEN you have more time/money (etc.) instead?

In this case, you have got the order wrong.

You need to do in order to get.

You don’t get in order to do.

If you are saying “I will save when I have more money”, you got the order wrong. You need to be saying “I will have more money only if I save.”

If you are saying “I will exercise when my health gets better”, you got the order wrong. You need to be saying “I need to exercise for my health to get better.”

Similarly, if you are saying “I will work on something when I get more time”, you got the order wrong. You need to be saying “I will work on it now to get more time in the future”

So back to our key question:

When do you start?

Answer: The moment you want to be the future version of yourself. The moment you want to win.

It’s that simple.

One Segment Alex Hormozi Confused Me

Though I agree with all the pointers that Alex shared, I was confused by 1 segment of his presentation. On the part of why you should win, Alex shared about why you should stick to something and win despite tough external conditions and internal conditions.

But he failed to address the key question I thought he would be addressing on why one should win for themselves.

And in my opinion, if you want to stay intrinsically motivated (and make your internal conditions more favourable), you need to identify why you should win and your why needs to be strong enough.

How can you do that?

Go as much as 7 levels deep as Dean Graziosi helps you to in his free pdf downloadable here.

In other words, ask yourself why you want something you want over and over, until you find the core reason/desire/fire that is fueling you every day.

And make sure you do this exercise on both a personal level and societal level. For example:

1. My why on a personal level: To support my family financially, so that they can also discover and work on their true passion to impact others around them in a positive way. To inspire my family and friends that it is possible to do the things you love and also make the money you need.
2. My why on a societal level: To help passionate business owners who sell impactful products and services reach the audiences they deserve, while being able to grow their business sustainably.

9 Step Summary of How To Win (at Anything)

1. Start when you are most busy so you stick with it at all times
2. Imagine the least successful version of yourself.
3. Brainstorm what you will do (or not do) to guarantee that you will lose.
4. Invert what you need to do to lose (for you to win).
5. Break down what you need to do to win into the most basic level (baby steps).
6. Practice these baby steps until it becomes second nature to you. 
7. Create motivation by changing your external environment and who you compare yourself to (ideally a future version of you that you aim to be)
8. Measure your success by whether you completed each of the actions and steps (enough times) for you to win 
9. Keep going at it & don’t give up even when things get really hard. 

Alex Hormozi closes off his almost hour long presentation emphasizing that in all the greatest games in life. you never “win”.

Again, I got a little confused by the image above (which was a part of his presentation) as one can stay in business with a mediocre business.

One can stay in a marriage with an unhappy marriage.

I think what Alex meant to say was:

Stay and outlast in business – And enjoy the process of growing your business bigger every year.

Stay and outlast in marriage – And enjoy the process of making your relationship stronger every day.

What you need to do is to focus on changing, taking the right action, growing and enjoying your journey. This way, “winning” will become inevitable.

And if you can remember just one key takeaway from Alex’s presentation., remember that if you did not change, you did not learn.

Now that you have read all the way until the end, make sure you take action and change. Go do!