The Formula for Success Read online

  Incidentally, if you have read this part of the book and not done the exercise (or have no intention of doing the exercise), I would refer you back to the 20% mindset that I covered in Chapter 1. And if even doing that is too much trouble, I would humbly suggest that you are self-diagnosing a major stumbling block in your route to wealth and prosperity.

  Belief (in yourself and others): continue to listen to, read about, and learn from the people who inspire me – on a daily basis. I know that this will increase my self-belief because it is the same practice that helped build it in the first place. I will then continue in my commitment to influencing others around me (especially my team) and encouraging people to pursue their dreams with belief.

  Do what you love: I love trading, I love teaching, I love being able to help the people I love, and I love seeing other people grow. I work hard, but I can't remember the last time I felt like I was going to work.

  Being different: trading has a reputation for scams and dodgy dealing. I set my stall out to be different and make a stand for honesty, decency, and respect. As a business, we are proactively striving towards these goals and, in the spirit of being different, we are shouting about it everywhere we go.

  Taking smart risks: whether I am using one of the algorithms we have created, trading for the business, or playing with my own account, I have Samuel Leach's personal set of guiding, unbreakable, and proven rules that I follow. There is a level of risk, but I know that I will always win more than I lose because I follow the rules (the algorithm) that have served me so well over so many years.

  Work ethic: this is simple for me because the truth of the matter is that I no longer ‘need’ to work 18-hour days to maintain my lifestyle. But I have bigger goals to achieve, and I want to influence more people's lives and change more of the wrongs that I see in the world. To do that I need to put in the hours – there is no other way – so I will continue to work as many 18-hour days as it takes until I am satisfied.

  It is over to you now reader. I can only show you what I have done in my life based on what I saw others do in their lives. As I have said before, I do not believe that great achievers are born – rather they just decide to take hold of the opportunities before them and apply whatever it takes to turn them into a success.

  You are the only person who can determine your future.

  Alan Watts

  Vision: he believed that our only limitation was the limitations that we imagined in our own minds and ambitions – and he proved that his was the case

  Challenge convention: he refused to accept that conventional wisdom and ideas were the only way to see things

  Happiness = wealth: he taught me that wealth meant doing what I enjoyed doing the most (I urge you to stop reading now and Google: “what if money were no object by Alan Watts” – it will be 3-minutes well spent, I promise)

  Thinking differently: he was not just a student of the thing he loved, he rewrote the rules of it and defined what it means to think out-of-the-box

  Funny, passionate and well-spoken: I still listen to those same videos and speeches today that I listened to ten years ago because they still inspire me and make me smile

  Warren Buffett

  Self-management: he actively examines the way he lives (even at 88-years old) and ruthlessly gets rid of anything that he identifies as a bad habit or poor behaviour (things that stop him living a productive life)

  Never takes unnecessary risks: one of the many principles which underpin his success is that he will never risk what he has to get something he doesn't need

  Humility: He recognises that he is not perfect, so he surrounds himself, and his businesses, with people who are better than him (even at 88, he is still looking to grow and learn)

  Capitalise on what you do best: he taught me that you should stick to what you do best and, if money matters to you, find a way to turn that into financial success

  Do what you love: it is easy to say of wealthy people, like Warren Buffett, that they can do what they love because they have financial freedom – but few understand that it was doing what they love which got them there in the first place

  Steve Jobs

  Valued time: he resigned from his position as CEO of Apple just six weeks before he died, citing that he could no longer give the role his full attention – but he continued to work towards his passion of filling the world with innovation, throughout those remaining six weeks

  Challenge employees' limits: not everyone will appreciate this one, but then not everyone is an ideal Apple employee – Jobs loved to push his employees to be the best that they could be

  Follow excellence, not money: like many entrepreneurs, Steve Jobs went through rough periods where he had no money, but I don't think he ever worried about it – he was focused on the end goal and seeking excellence

  Develop the passion: he was a great salesman and a passionate persuader, but he famously never sold computers – he sold a way of life and billions of people bought into his passion for it

  Take risks: taking on the might of Microsoft, IBM, and Dell, from a small start-up business, was never going to be easy and could not have been achieved without being prepared to take significant risks

  Elon Musk

  Strong risk tolerance: I mentioned before that you don't have to like every trait – well I couldn't do what Elon Musk does when it comes to risk, neither would I advise anyone else to – but, boy, do I admire him for his 100% belief and commitment to his cause

  100-hour work week mentality: Elon recognised from early on in his career, that the most precious resource was time – so he used it to pursue his goals instead of letting it drift away into yesterday

  Stand out from the crowd: the world is full of me-too products and everyone competing for the same space – so Elon always chose to do new things and solve problems people hadn't invented yet

  Feedback loop: one of the key principles behind his success is the need for giving and receiving feedback so that systems, people, processes and results can always be improved

  Faith in himself and his team: the two hardest things about being an entrepreneur is believing in yourself and trusting others to do things as well as you can – Elon has mastered both of these traits

  Muhammad Ali

  Believe in yourself: he was the pinnacle of self-belief and famous for his self-promotion – and the fact of the matter is that no one would have bought into the idea of his greatness if he hadn't believed it first

  Imagine your desired future: today, many sportspeople use visualisation techniques to help turn their dreams into reality, but Ali was one of the first to do this as part of his training regime

  Preparation is key: as I mentioned in a previous chapter, his preparation and planning outside of the ring was the key to him winning inside of the ring – there was nothing left to chance

  Mental Strength: this could be said of any professional boxer because it is a brutal sport – you play football, you even play rugby, but you don't play boxing – but that level of mental strength and resilience is a trait that will serve you well in any area of your life

  Strong, likeable personality: it can be tough at the top, and you often get a lot of stick just for being successful, Muhammad Ali has taught me that it is possible to be true to yourself, be successful and still enjoy a good public reputation – perhaps I aspire to that as much as anything

  Samuel's Leach Theory Algorithm

  Trait 1 Trait 2

  Trait 3

  Trait 4

  Trait 5

  Belief (in yourself and others): The old saying about leading by example is personified in these examples. If you want to create an amazing future for yourself, you will need the help of other people, and if you can't fully believe in your vision, they won't stand a chance. Do what you love: Someone once said: “if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life” and I believe that is a fundamental truth. To do something in life that makes you unhappy makes no sense to me whatsoever and i
s a surefire recipe for failure. Being different: Basic mathematics tells you that the majority of people, in any given category, are the ones who form the group known as ordinary. So, to stand out as extraordinary, you have no choice but to be different – it is as simple as that. Taking smart risks: Ironically, two of the people I chose appear to have different approaches to risk. Look below the surface, however, and you will see that they are the same: both study the available information, apply their level of trust in that data, decide what they are prepared to risk (lose) and then make their commitment. Elon clearly has a higher threshold of risk, so he is prepared to go all in; whereas Warren makes more frequent, smaller, safer trades. Work ethic: It takes most people to get into the latter years of their life before the penny drops that life is short and time is precious. When milestone birthdays force you to look back and start counting the years, wondering what you could have done better, it is easy to think it is too late – but it isn't. Today is the best day to start valuing and using your time doing the things that increase your wealth (whatever that might mean to you).

  Action 1 Action 2

  Action 3

  Action 4

  Action 5

  Continue to listen to, read about and learn from the people who inspire me – on a daily basis. I know that this will increase my self-belief because it is the same practice which helped build it in the first place. I will then continue in my commitment to influencing others around me (especially my team) and encouraging people to pursue their dreams with belief. I love trading, I love teaching, I love being able to help the people I love, and I love seeing other people grow. I work hard, but I can't remember the last time I felt like I was going to work. Trading has a reputation for scams and dodgy dealing. I set my stall out to be different and make a stand for honesty, decency and respect. As a business, we are proactively striving towards these goals and, in the spirit of being different, we are shouting about it everywhere we go. Whether I am using one of the algorithms we have created, trading for the business or playing with my own account, I have Samuel Leach's personal set of guiding, unbreakable and proven rules that I follow. There is a level of risk, but I know that I will always win more than I lose because I follow the rules (the algorithm) that have served me so well over so many years. This is simple for me because the truth of the matter is that I no longer ‘need’ to work 18-hour days to maintain my lifestyle. But I have bigger goals to achieve, and I want to influence more people's lives and change more of the wrongs that I see in the world. To do that I need to put in the hours – there is no other way – so I will continue to work as many 18-hour days as it takes until I am satisfied.

  ‘You have to be prepared to go beyond your own boundaries if you want to grow and become a better version of you.’

  Chapter 12

  FEELING UNCOMFORTABLE

  One of my favourite emotional states is, ironically, among most other people's least favourite. It is the feeling of being uncomfortable. Just like the words I mentioned in Chapter 6, the concept of being uncomfortable is usually associated with negative things and rarely recognised as the first step towards almost every great achievement in history. For me, that point where I find myself sufficiently far outside of the zone where I feel comfortable is the trigger on the starting pistol. It is the point at which I take the plunge – it is when great things begin to happen.

  The dictionary definition of ‘uncomfortable’ includes descriptions like causing discomfort, distress, pain, or irritation; and being conscious of stress or strain. But here is the thing: precious pearls are formed when an oyster secretes a substance to stop the irritation of a tiny spec of sand in its shell; diamonds are the result of enormous geological pressures; and the naturally occurring performance-enhancing drug ‘adrenaline’ is released as a result of physical or emotional stress. A positive reaction to an uncomfortable situation almost always generates strength, value, and opportunity. Don't get me wrong here, there are far more examples I could list where pressure, stress, and discomfort cause massive failure, but the key is to apply a ‘positive’ reaction. Positive participation is the element of this particular algorithm which most people are too afraid to embrace.

  Growth lessons from a lobster

  I first heard about this lobster analogy while listening to a lecture from a guy called Dr Abraham Twerski, and I realised that he was talking about me. Like all crustaceans, a lobster has a hard exoskeleton which protects all the important soft and mushy parts on the inside. As the creature grows, the hard shell, which is designed to protect it against outside attacks from predators, starts to resist the attempts to expand from the inside. As you can imagine, this growth process begins to make the lobster feel very uncomfortable in its own skin (shell). So, it finds a large rock and crawls underneath the protection of that rock, where it can safely shed its shell and wait until it can grow a new one. Only when its armour is secure again does the lobster venture out into the great ocean and continue living its life beneath the waves.

  Have you ever felt uncomfortable in your own skin? Perhaps you've suffered imposter syndrome (where you don't feel you are the right person for the job you are doing). Or maybe you are considering taking a bold step into a new business venture and having second thoughts (for the fourth or fifth time). It could be that a circumstance beyond your control is confronting you and you are on the verge of just running away and hiding under the nearest rock.

  Most people, when they feel under pressure or a situation is making them irritable, decide that they are either not cut out for the situation or, worse still, that there is something wrong with them. They give in, run away, break down, or go to the doctor. Now, I'm not suggesting that anyone goes against professional medical advice here, but maybe that feeling of being uncomfortable is actually something else. Could it be that when we are feeling irritable, uncomfortable, or even in pain, that we are simply growing? Could you turn that rock into a temporary state of mind where you pluck up the courage to grow some self-belief and backbone and emerge as a stronger version of you?

  In my experience, most people give in too easily. I don't believe anything of significance was ever achieved without someone having to push themselves past being uncomfortable. I'm not just talking about the death-defying bravery of stepping foot on the moon or reaching the summit of Everest. Or even the strength of conviction to stand up to hate, fight human injustice, and change the attitude of entire societies. What about everyday victories and life-changing events, like going to your first interview, asking someone to marry you, learning to drive, or giving birth? You can't tell me that achieving any of these hugely personal growth milestones is in any way comfortable.

  Think about every time in your life that you have achieved something which meant something to you. Did it cause any level of pressure, irritation, or discomfort at any time? Was the result worth it? I would even venture to suggest that often the fact that something was hard adds to the sense of achievement and the recognition that we became stronger through the experience. If that is the case, why don't we start to embrace being uncomfortable?

  Looking for the uncomfortable

  An important part of working out your algorithm for prosperity is to accept that operating outside of your comfort zone for a while is going to be part of the equation. A lot of what I am sharing with you in this book is probably making you feel uncomfortable. I know a lot of people reading it will still be thinking ‘it's OK for you Samuel Leach, you have a natural gift for this sort of thing', but that is simply not true. The whole point is that you have got to be prepared to go beyond your own boundaries if you want to grow and become a better version of you. There will be people reading this who are frightened of the idea of investing money or starting their own business or giving up the daily grind to pursue the thing in life that they really love doing. Well, that is great news as far as I'm concerned, because it means that you are close to the edge where you are ready to take the plunge.

  I have become so convinced tha
t feeling uncomfortable is the key to personal, business, and emotional growth that I have even started looking for ways to put myself in those positions more often. Let me share one of those stories with you.

  Early in 2018, I decided that I would swim the Solent, a 2.5 mile stretch of open water from Ryde on the Isle of Wight to Portsmouth on the UK's south coast. Just to set the scene, I don't like sharks, I don't like deep water, I am not a professional swimmer, and the weekend before two people had died as a result of jellyfish stings just along the coast at Camber Sands. Twenty people had signed up for the swim and when I arrived there were only six of us standing there in our wetsuits, shivering with anticipation even before entering the icy cold waters. It turned out that unseasonably large numbers of mackerel in the waterway meant there were even more sharks than usual (and I hadn't seen the email warning). By this point, I was feeling far more uncomfortable than I was comfortable. Plus, I was the only one of the six without a shark tag (an electronic shark deterrent device).

  But I took the plunge because I had prepared, trained, and promised myself that I would complete this challenge. During the swim, the winds and current took us all far off course. At one point I was swimming against the tide for 25 minutes without moving a single body length nearer my destination. Four of that day's swimmers were pulled from the water due to safety reasons, and only two of us made it to the other side unassisted.

  It was a great personal achievement, and it taught me a lot about my physical and mental strength. But the point is that I couldn't have achieved that swim without being uncomfortable. OK, it is not a unique achievement, nor are the half-marathons and other physical challenges that I continue to set myself, but it was something that I had to push myself to complete. Likewise, there is nothing of note I have done in my business life that been easy, or comfortable, but I decided that I would go for it anyway. And more to the point – you can do the same in every area of your life; you just need to get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable.