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This is a good HBR article on the topic, "Stop Reading Lists of Things Successful People Do": https://hbr.org/2017/03/stop-reading-lists-of-things-successful-p

This is a good HBR article on the topic, "Stop Reading Lists of Things Successful People Do": https://hbr.org/2017/03/stop-reading-lists-of-things-successful-people-do https://hbr.org/2017/03/stop-reading-lists-of-things-success... Most analyses show unsuccessful business people do all of the exact same things that successful business people do, at least when it comes to the sorts of things you find in these books.

kamaal 4y ago
If you have the same routine as Mike Tyson, you are definitely guaranteed to not win the world boxing championship. But you can be sure it will make you very fit, healthy and a decent boxer along the way. You might not become the next Jeff Bezos and that is ok. Being the millionaire next door is good enough for most people. Besides nothing bad ever happened to anybody when they read more books, got more disciplined, did more exercise, eat healthy, took more proactive action and whatever it takes to improve their lives. Even the worst case scenario leaves you in a better state than where you started.
- pydry 4y ago
  Elizabeth Holmes wore black turtlenecks, gave engaging speeches, was massively paranoid about secrecy and promised more than had currently been delivered. She slightly missed becoming Steve Jobs or a millionaire next door.
  - whatshisface 4y ago
    That's probably a bad example because she did succeed in replicating the part of Steve Jobs that really came from him, which was the ability to enthrall people with whatever was said, like some kind of guru.
- doorman2 4y ago
  You’ve jumped to conclusions. “If you work out like Mike Tyson, then you’ll definitely get into shape.” Ok I agree. “If you act like Jeff Bezos, you’ll definitely become a millionaire.” How?
- throwaway98797 4y ago
  context matters the guys who’s 5’5 should adapt different routine to become good then someone who’s 6’5. in business the key is to find how your talents can be used best by you. lastly, reading the wrong books is wasting time and time is all we got. it is akin to murder.
  - pempem 4y ago
    Its difficult to read the 'wrong' book, but its definitely easy to waste time reading lists you may never be able to recite, leverage, or even remember you read.
- n4r9 4y ago
  One key difference: If everyone exercised more and ate more healthily, then everyone's physical condition would improve (apologies for being slightly ableist here). However, if everyone read more books and took more initiative in the workplace, the market would adapt so that not everyone would benefit from it. Businesses would simply adjust downwards how much they pay for a given competency.
  - SQueeeeeL 4y ago
    I feel like that's missing the point of reading books (and honestly seems like a very non-founder mentality). Reading books should be primarily for personal benefit, understanding more of the world, having a stronger grasp on how to communicate your ideas, showing more empathy for others. These really aren't directly marketable towards compensation (at least, not in the same way as a textbook), it's about being a better person. Honestly if everyone had more of these traits, there'd probably be a lot more small businesses and fewer dejected corporate employees who feel there's no hope for the future but to grind up the ladder.
    - n4r9 4y ago
      Yes, true, I glossed over those benefits of reading more. I guess my conjecture is that whatever advice you give people to "succeed in business", the monetary rewards for following it will be drastically different if 5% of people follow it vs 95%. My hunch is that markets adjust to whatever the baseline level of competency is, and I don't see how that's different if there's a lot more small businesses. To succeed in fitness and health you must compete with yourself; to succeed in business you must compete with others.
      - kamaal 4y ago
        The comments on this thread are an indication that only a few would be doing it, its because what it is, 'you have to be doing it'. It requires doing work. Most people are imagining a magic pill approach to self help stuff. In all my reading of self help books, the advice comes along as obvious common sense stuff, except that stuff didn't come naturally to me. First time I read the GTD book from David Allen, all of it did feel revolutionary. After a few weeks it felt so obvious, it was left scratching my head. Why wasn't doing this before? Eat that frog was somewhat similar. If you have finite hours to do a thing, why would you spend it on doing work that wasn't very rewarding to you. Stuff like ruthlessly prioritising your interests above everything else, is pure 'common sense', but rarely do people do this. Recently books like Atomic Habits have shown many people, stuff like exercise, or cooking a healthy meal should be a life habit in itself. You are better off developing a life long habit of doing a certain set of things that are a long term pay off. Another book I read a while back, said something very obvious. Like You are 100% responsible for your life. Regardless of whether you wish to take control or not, you are in total ownership of anything situation. You can chose to not take control and act, but you are indeed in control. This really puts the ownership of time, resources and even the future under your total control, and on a second look, this indeed seems to be the case. Except that when I actually came to realise I definitely think and act more proactively to put life interests above everything else. As a general rule, I only have positive things to say about some of this advice.
skeeter2020 4y ago
Intuitively it seems that duplicating superficial things like which books you read would have very low value and be a big distraction. Some of the core activities probably help, but then all the factors outside your control likely dictate the final outcome. So things like work hard, help people and cultivate relationships are likely valuable but no guarantee
gcanyon 4y ago
It could be that the "things successful people do" are necessary but not sufficient. It's good to know that "Most analyses show unsuccessful business people do all of the exact same things" but it would be more interesting to know if there are successful business people who don't do those things (most) successful people do.

kamaal 4y ago

If you have the same routine as Mike Tyson, you are definitely guaranteed to not win the world boxing championship. But you can be sure it will make you very fit, healthy and a decent boxer along the way. You might not become the next Jeff Bezos and that is ok. Being the millionaire next door is good enough for most people. Besides nothing bad ever happened to anybody when they read more books, got more disciplined, did more exercise, eat healthy, took more proactive action and whatever it takes to improve their lives. Even the worst case scenario leaves you in a better state than where you started.

pydry 4y ago
Elizabeth Holmes wore black turtlenecks, gave engaging speeches, was massively paranoid about secrecy and promised more than had currently been delivered. She slightly missed becoming Steve Jobs or a millionaire next door.
- whatshisface 4y ago
  That's probably a bad example because she did succeed in replicating the part of Steve Jobs that really came from him, which was the ability to enthrall people with whatever was said, like some kind of guru.
doorman2 4y ago
You’ve jumped to conclusions. “If you work out like Mike Tyson, then you’ll definitely get into shape.” Ok I agree. “If you act like Jeff Bezos, you’ll definitely become a millionaire.” How?
throwaway98797 4y ago
context matters the guys who’s 5’5 should adapt different routine to become good then someone who’s 6’5. in business the key is to find how your talents can be used best by you. lastly, reading the wrong books is wasting time and time is all we got. it is akin to murder.
- pempem 4y ago
  Its difficult to read the 'wrong' book, but its definitely easy to waste time reading lists you may never be able to recite, leverage, or even remember you read.
n4r9 4y ago
One key difference: If everyone exercised more and ate more healthily, then everyone's physical condition would improve (apologies for being slightly ableist here). However, if everyone read more books and took more initiative in the workplace, the market would adapt so that not everyone would benefit from it. Businesses would simply adjust downwards how much they pay for a given competency.
- SQueeeeeL 4y ago
  I feel like that's missing the point of reading books (and honestly seems like a very non-founder mentality). Reading books should be primarily for personal benefit, understanding more of the world, having a stronger grasp on how to communicate your ideas, showing more empathy for others. These really aren't directly marketable towards compensation (at least, not in the same way as a textbook), it's about being a better person. Honestly if everyone had more of these traits, there'd probably be a lot more small businesses and fewer dejected corporate employees who feel there's no hope for the future but to grind up the ladder.
  - n4r9 4y ago
    Yes, true, I glossed over those benefits of reading more. I guess my conjecture is that whatever advice you give people to "succeed in business", the monetary rewards for following it will be drastically different if 5% of people follow it vs 95%. My hunch is that markets adjust to whatever the baseline level of competency is, and I don't see how that's different if there's a lot more small businesses. To succeed in fitness and health you must compete with yourself; to succeed in business you must compete with others.
    - kamaal 4y ago
      The comments on this thread are an indication that only a few would be doing it, its because what it is, 'you have to be doing it'. It requires doing work. Most people are imagining a magic pill approach to self help stuff. In all my reading of self help books, the advice comes along as obvious common sense stuff, except that stuff didn't come naturally to me. First time I read the GTD book from David Allen, all of it did feel revolutionary. After a few weeks it felt so obvious, it was left scratching my head. Why wasn't doing this before? Eat that frog was somewhat similar. If you have finite hours to do a thing, why would you spend it on doing work that wasn't very rewarding to you. Stuff like ruthlessly prioritising your interests above everything else, is pure 'common sense', but rarely do people do this. Recently books like Atomic Habits have shown many people, stuff like exercise, or cooking a healthy meal should be a life habit in itself. You are better off developing a life long habit of doing a certain set of things that are a long term pay off. Another book I read a while back, said something very obvious. Like You are 100% responsible for your life. Regardless of whether you wish to take control or not, you are in total ownership of anything situation. You can chose to not take control and act, but you are indeed in control. This really puts the ownership of time, resources and even the future under your total control, and on a second look, this indeed seems to be the case. Except that when I actually came to realise I definitely think and act more proactively to put life interests above everything else. As a general rule, I only have positive things to say about some of this advice.

skeeter2020 4y ago

Intuitively it seems that duplicating superficial things like which books you read would have very low value and be a big distraction. Some of the core activities probably help, but then all the factors outside your control likely dictate the final outcome. So things like work hard, help people and cultivate relationships are likely valuable but no guarantee

gcanyon 4y ago

It could be that the "things successful people do" are necessary but not sufficient. It's good to know that "Most analyses show unsuccessful business people do all of the exact same things" but it would be more interesting to know if there are successful business people who don't do those things (most) successful people do.