You went to compete to win, not to participate

Today was pretty chill. I spent most of it cooking on the product, trying to reverse engineer Clay, and we shipped a new feature. In between, I met up with my friend Vlad, a good dude from Chicago, founder of CUUB. We just had a good chat, honestly, nothing crazy, just catching up.

I also thought a lot about winning and speed. When I compete, I compete to win. I never show up to a competition just to participate. I think that's the biggest mistake people make, entering something with a "just happy to be here" mindset. No way. That's a loser's mindset. You show up to win, always. So many people delay their own success simply because they're slow and lazy about it.

You can genuinely become a master of almost any industry within 20 hours, if you actually look into it, 10 hours a day for two days straight. It's never been easier to learn fast, but most of society, almost everyone trying to build something, isn't willing to sacrifice for it. It's fascinating how someone can even think about winning if they're not willing to give up something to win it.

Sure, there are always excuses. "No, I need time to rest." I don't buy that, honestly. I'm just not built that way. If you truly want to succeed and you're not willing to give everything, you won't be able to compete with people who are. Your odds are basically zero. Which is fine, kind of funny even, once you see it clearly.

I also thought a lot about goal setting today. Sometimes you set a goal for 10 years out, but if you actually break it down, you could hit it in a few months.

It really comes down to mindset. Are you telling yourself "I'm doing enough, we're moving fast enough"? Or are you saying "we're behind, we're not moving fast enough, we need to work harder, faster, every single day"?

It has to be delusional, obsessed, hard-boiled. I don't care what anyone else says about that. Without that kind of discipline, you lose.