Why Most People Never Make It—And Why You Still Can

Getting rich and successful seems to be the dream of many—but that’s all it ever remains for most: a distant, unreachable fantasy.

Even if you lower the ambition to earning a good six-figure income, most people will still wave it off as impossible.

“Not for me.”

“I’m just not cut out for that.”

“I wasn’t born lucky.”

And yet, paradoxically, we live in the most inspiring age of all time.

You don’t need to dig through libraries or stumble upon rare mentors to find role models.

Just open Netflix.

Inspiration Is Everywhere—But Most People Stay on the Couch

Watch The Greatest Showman, The Pursuit of Happyness, the Beckham documentary, or even The Wolf of Wall Street.

All of them tell the same core story: Obsession. Drive. Risk. Relentless effort.

Not privilege. Not intelligence. Not even luck.

And certainly not balance.

But somehow this message still doesn’t percolate into the public consciousness.

We consume these stories like fairy tales.

We feel moved, even empowered—but by Monday morning we’re back in autopilot, back to scrolling, back to the dull hum of inertia.

So What’s the Missing Link?

Here’s the thing: these stories are not just inspiring.

They are instructional. They are roadmaps. But only if you treat them that way.

Because here’s the truth: you can make it too.

Not maybe. Not “if the stars align.”

You can. But there’s a price. And it’s steep.

You have to be ready to:

• Give 120%,

• Work 80 hours a week,

• Delay gratification like a monk,

• And keep going long after everyone else has burned out or chickened out.

Let’s be honest: 80 hours a week? That sounds insane.

But you don’t do this forever. You do it when you’re young and full of energy. When your responsibilities are lower and your stamina is higher.

That’s when you build your edge.

It’s how you front-load the 10,000 hours it takes to master something—anything.

You can’t tiptoe your way to excellence.

As Elon Musk once said:

“Nobody ever changed the world on 40 hours a week.”

I’ve Seen This Work—Over and Over Again

I’m not saying this because I read it in a book or saw it in a TED Talk.

I’ve seen it up close. I’ve worked with hundreds of clients. Real people. No silver spoons. No fancy degrees.

Let me tell you about a few of them.

• The high school graduate who became obsessed with crypto. While his friends partied or wasted time online, he spent 14 hours a day on weekends and school holidays consuming everything he could. No formal education, no tech background. Today he’s financially independent—and still in his twenties.

• The university student who discovered short selling. He became fixated. He started trading every waking moment, reading SEC filings at 3am. Eventually, he dropped out—not because he failed, but because he was already making seven figures. He didn’t need the degree.

• The YouTuber who lived off ramen for 3 years. He worked 80 hours a week to crack the code of the algorithm. Studied thumbnails, scripts, retention curves. Today, he earns $1.5 million a year. And no—he’s not a genius. Just hungry.

None of these people had an IQ of 130.

None had family money.

But they all had the same thing: fire in the belly, and the willingness to delay the reward.

Delayed Gratification: The Real Cheat Code

This brings us to a concept most people hate to hear: delayed gratification.

In a world addicted to instant results, delayed gratification is practically a superpower.

And yet it’s incredibly simple:

"I’ll suffer now so I can enjoy later—on my terms."

But this is deeply unnatural. Everything around us screams:

Now. Quick. Easy.

Swipe. Tap. Click. Scroll. Dopamine.

That’s why most people never build anything lasting. They burn their potential for the sake of short-term comfort. They never sit with discomfort long enough to let greatness emerge.

The Hardest Lesson to Pass On

This is the part that keeps me up at night.

Even when you know this is true—even when you’ve seen it work again and again—it’s unbelievably hard to pass it on.

I try to teach this to my children.
And I struggle.

They don’t lack intelligence.
They don’t lack opportunity.
They lack hunger.

And how could they not?

They didn’t grow up with uncertainty. They didn’t grow up with the need to earn every inch.

It’s hard to pass on pain-tested wisdom in a comfort-soaked world.

And maybe that’s why most people have to fall flat before they finally wake up.

The 80-Hour Week Is the Shortcut (No, Really)

Let me be blunt:

Forget balance.
Forget “smart hacks” or “manifestation.”
Forget the four-day workweek utopia that’s so popular right now.

The idea that you should be able to work less, rest more, and still climb the mountain is seductive—but it’s a lie.

That model might make sense after you've built something. But never at the beginning. Never while you're still proving yourself.

If you:

• Work harder than your peers,

• Stay obsessed longer than your friends,

• Delay gratification while others indulge…

Then you will rise.
Not by magic.
But by math.

But Have I Worked 80 Hours a Week? You Bet.

When I talk about this—especially here in Texas—people sometimes ask if I’m all hat, no cattle.
Talk big, but don’t walk the walk.

So let me set the record straight:
Yes, I’ve worked 80-hour weeks. And not for a month. For two years straight.

My first real job was at my dad’s small consulting company. He paid me—well, let’s just say—a “modest” wage.
And I gave everything.
I worked like a madman. I wanted to prove myself. And more importantly, I wanted to learn.

That’s where I learned to code.
I didn’t need to be forced—I was obsessed. I loved crawling inside the machine, trying to understand it, master it. The learning curve was brutal. But it was the best training I could’ve asked for.

After that, I spent ten years working for some of the best companies in the world.
And then I built my own.

So yes, I’ve lived what I’m telling you.
And I wouldn’t change a thing.

I Know This Sounds Crude. Old-Fashioned. Out of Touch.

Believe me—I get how all this sounds.

We live in a world that celebrates “work-life balance.”

A world where simple grafting—just rolling up your sleeves and working—is often looked down on.

Where the holy grail is “purpose,” and where hustle is considered toxic.

And yes—what I’m telling you doesn’t fit into that agenda.
I’m not offering you mindfulness. I’m offering you the grind.
I’m not selling you alignment. I’m telling you to suffer.

But let me ask you this:
If you do what everyone else does, what do you think you’ll achieve?

Exactly.

You’ll end up exactly where everyone else ends up.
And that’s not a place of wealth, freedom, or power.

So yes, maybe I am old-fashioned.

But old-fashioned works—especially when everyone else is busy being modern, balanced, and broke.

But Let’s Be Honest: Not Every Job Leads Somewhere

Now, there’s a caveat. A big one.
Because I know what you might be thinking:

“What about all the people who do work 80 hours a week and never get rich?”

It’s a fair point.

And if you’re one of them, you might feel offended by what I’ve written.

But let me say this clearly: I see you. I feel for you. I respect your effort.

Here’s the hard truth: effort alone isn’t enough.

You have to direct that effort toward something that can grow. That’s the catch.

But let’s slow down and look at this more carefully.

Say you work as a chef in a small restaurant.
You give everything. You master your craft. You become the best in the kitchen.
What happens?

You get promoted.
Or maybe you leave and get hired at a better place.
You repeat the process a few times—and suddenly you’re working at one of the top restaurants in the world.

Maybe even earn a Michelin star.

And maybe—one day—you open your own place.

Even in “basic” jobs, obsession and excellence compound.

But it only works if the job has leverage, upward mobility, or reputation-building potential.

Some jobs, unfortunately, are dead ends.

You can give 120% for 20 years—and nothing changes.

Don’t waste your time there.

If you’re stuck in that kind of job, the first step to wealth is: get out.

Final Thought: Make the Leap from Viewer to Doer

So next time you watch The Pursuit of Happyness or Beckham, stop and ask yourself:

“What am I doing with my time?”
“How obsessed am I—really?”
“What am I sacrificing today to build tomorrow?”

Because these aren’t just movies.

They’re mirrors.

And maybe, just maybe, they’re maps.

Now go build your own story—one 80-hour week at a time.