Underrated advice: Read your old journals. See how many "huge" problems disappeared. How many "forever" feelings faded. How many "disasters" became funny stories. Perspective is everything.

New Success Story Podcast with Chris Do - Emmy Award-Winning Designer – How to De-Risk Entrepreneurship – What It Really Means to Build a Personal Brand – The Right Way to Monetize Your Audience Podcast: www.successstorypodcast.com/chris-do/ YouTube: youtu.be/MTqiV6robGg/

You can get pretty damn far by doing one thing really well instead of ten things poorly. Depth beats breadth. Mastery beats variety. Pick your lane and own it completely.

Your story isn't over. That failure isn't the end. That rejection isn't final. That setback isn't permanent. You're still writing. Make the next chapter better.

Your next level demands a different you. New mindset. New circle. New habits. New standards. The hardest part isn't letting go. It's believing you deserve what comes next.

Most people think staying is polite—actually, you're just too insecure to admit you're done.

Success strategy: While they're planning, you're doing. While they're meeting, you're building. While they're talking, you're shipping. Action beats intention.

Success shortcut: Find someone who has what you want and do what they did. Success leaves clues. Winners have patterns. Copy what works. Innovation can come later.

Underrated trait: Being unusually direct. Not rude. Just clear. Say what you mean. Ask for what you want. State your boundaries. Clarity is kindness. Confusion is cruelty. Be direct.

The $10M difference: Poor people save money. Middle class saves time. Rich people save attention. Wealth is just focus, compounded.

Controversial truth: Most people's standards are too low. They're impressed by basic effort. Grateful for minimum respect. Excited by common courtesy. Raise your standards. Your life rises to meet them.

Why confident people follow them and insecure people don’t. scottdclary.substack.com/p/the-instru...

Why the advice you hear and the decisions that actually created success are two completely different things.

Charged $50/hour for years because I thought that's what people would pay. Raised it to $500/hour as an experiment. Booked solid for six months. Your prices teach people how to value you.

I've noticed something about criticism: The people doing the criticizing are rarely doing the work. Builders are too busy building to tear others down. Critics create nothing but noise.

Career advice nobody gives: Stop trying to be invaluable. Be replaceable. Build systems so good that you can leave. That's when you become truly valuable Ð and truly free.

Every hour you spend “being productive” might be costing you the one idea that changes everything.

Why the article you’ll never read says more about you than the ones you finish.

Life-changing realization: Success is rented, not owned. The rent is due every day. Yesterday's wins don't guarantee tomorrow's. You're only as good as your current effort.

Most people don't need a mentor. They need to actually implement the advice they already have. You've read the books. You've watched the videos. Now do the work.

Success system: Do the obvious thing nobody's doing. Return calls quickly. Follow up consistently. Keep promises religiously. Basic excellence is so rare it looks like genius.

Coffee with a founder who failed five times before succeeding. "What changed?" "I stopped trying to avoid failure and started failing faster. Each failure taught what success couldn't."

You can get pretty damn far by asking "How can I help?" and meaning it. Most people ask "What's in it for me?" Be the exception. Service creates abundance.

Most progress starts with admitting you were wrong. Wrong about your limits. Wrong about your approach. Wrong about your excuses. Growth begins where ego ends.

Spent years analyzing every decision to death. Cost me two businesses and a relationship. Now? 48-hour rule. If I can't decide in two days, it's a no. Most "big" decisions are actually reversible. The only irreversible decision is the time you waste not deciding.

Controversial truth: Positive thinking without positive action is delusion. You can't affirm your way to success. Thoughts without action are just wishes. Do something or stop pretending.

Coffee shop observation: Everyone's fighting something. The rude cashier. The impatient customer. The distracted friend. Kindness costs nothing but could mean everything.

The hard reality: your body is keeping score. Every shortcut, every excess, every neglect is being tallied. This isn't judgment - it's physics. It means you can start making deposits today. The debt you're accumulating has compound interest.

Bedtime thought: Your kids are watching. How you treat their mom. How you handle stress. How you keep promises. You're not raising children. You're raising future adults. Model what matters.

After raising two kids to adulthood: They won't remember the toys. They'll remember the time. They won't quote your lectures. They'll mirror your behaviors. Presence beats presents.

New Success Story Podcast with Lavell Juan - Built a NASDAQ Company (Brag House) at 30 – You Can’t Buy Culture – What Makes a Career “Dangerous” – The Psychology of Starting Over – The Power of Asking for Help Podcast: www.successstorypodcast.com/lavell-juan YouTube: youtu.be/nfvzx37LyuU

Your triggers reveal your attachments. What makes you angry shows what you can't control. What makes you sad shows what you've lost. What scares you shows what you value.

Watching my rich friends vs poor friends: Poor friends discuss people. Rich friends discuss opportunities. Wealthy friends discuss execution. Choose your conversations carefully.

The biggest lie: "I'll start Monday." Monday isn't magical. Today is available. Now is possible. Stop scheduling. Start doing. Monday is procrastination.

The difference between winners and everyone else: Winners do what they said they'd do, long after the mood has left them. Discipline is just keeping promises to yourself.

You can get pretty damn far by just being the most positive person in the room. Not fake positive. Real positive. People gravitate toward energy. Be the sun, not the black hole.

The older I get, the more I notice: Confident people change their minds faster. They're not attached to being right. They're attached to getting it right. Weak confidence defends positions. Strong confidence evolves them.

Going to therapy is self-care. Going to the gym is self-care. Eating vegetables is self-care. That fourth glass of wine while scrolling Instagram? That's self-destruction with good marketing.

You're rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Busy but not productive. Moving but not progressing. The ship's still sinking. Stop confusing motion with progress. Direction matters more than speed.

The truth about overnight success: It takes 10 years. The struggle is invisible. The breakthrough is public. Everyone sees the result. Nobody sees the process.

Rich is making $500K and spending $500K. Wealthy is making $200K and keeping $100K. Rich is loud. Wealthy is quiet. One impresses strangers. Other impresses accountants.

Saturday Strategy Sessions newsletter.scottdclary.com/p/saturday-s...

Success signal: When everyone thinks you're crazy, you're probably onto something. Convention creates average. Average is crowded. Different is valuable. Be weird.

My to-do list has 47 things. Three actually matter. The rest are just me playing busy. If everything's important, nothing is. Pick three things. Do them well. Everything else is vanity productivity.

The older I get, the clearer it becomes that your environment beats your willpower. Surround yourself with cookies, you'll eat cookies. Surround yourself with winners, you'll win. Design your defaults.

Your excuses are someone else's business plan. Too tired? Energy drinks. No time? Productivity apps. Can't focus? Meditation apps. Every problem you have, someone's getting rich solving.

“There’s a huge difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.” - Richard Feynman

Never underestimate: The power of one person believing in you. Sometimes that's all it takes. Be that person for someone. Start with yourself.

Underrated trait: Following up. The email after the meeting. The text after the date. The check-in after the crisis. Most people forget. You remember. That's how you become unforgettable.

The wealthy aren't playing the same game you are-they're seeing patterns you've been trained to ignore. open.substack.com/pub/scottdcl...