3 Daily Habit Hacks to Limit Distractions | Kevin O'Leary

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0:41What would you say are the three biggest habits that you've developed over time? Maybe you didn't have early on, but you develop over time that has made you so successful, the three biggest habits that you apply?

0:52Kevin O'Leary:You know, I've learned a lot from the CEOs I've invested in over the years. and there was a woman a few years ago, it's probably 10 years ago now, and she said to me something really interesting. I asked her why she was so successful, because she was. She said, I do something very ordinary and almost boring, but I do it every day. She takes a sticky note, and she writes three things she has to get done before she texts, answers any calls, or does anything else. Just three things. and she sticks it on the mirror where she puts her makeup on. It doesn't have to be business things. It can be whatever it is that are deemed to be important to get done the next day.

1:34Kevin O'Leary:This isn't tech. You're not putting it in your phone. It's not a software program. It's a piece of paper. When you're going to bed, brushing your teeth, whatever, you write those three things down, you stick it on the mirror. I do it every night. And then I am myopically focused to get those three things done. I don't do anything else. Before you text, before you check your email. Before I do anything else, I nail those three things. You cannot believe how productive you get when that happens because you don't let the distractions of all the other crap that's happening around you. It's incredibly powerful.

2:06Kevin O'Leary:I tell people to try it. Most people who try it get stuck on it and they stick with it. And that's why I tell people, try it out. It's a really great tool. That's number one. What's the second big habit? I wanted to be a photographer or a musician, a rock star. When I was, you know, graduate, when I got out of high school, and my dad, my stepdad said to me, you're not good enough at either of those. You'll starve to death. If I were you, I would go get any kind of a degree and focus on business, which is what I did. You know, I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I learned some stuff. And I ended up going into postgraduate.

2:37Kevin O'Leary:I went and got an MBA, which at that time was a two-year program. I remember on the last week, the graduating class, and in those, it's sort of like an amphitheater with about 100 people in it, and you've been there for two years, you've got your little nameplate in front, and they bring in guest lecturers to talk to you before you jump into the real world. And this guy comes in. He walks up, the professor hands him the floor, and he just goes in the middle and just looks up at everybody. For maybe like, it felt like forever, but it was really maybe 60 seconds. Didn't say a word. And the whole room, you could have heard a pin drop.

3:13Kevin O'Leary:I'll never forget it. And then he says, you guys think you're so hush. You think that you've come here and you've got an MBA and you're going to go out in the world and you're going to rock and you're going to be incredibly successful. I've got news for you. For two thirds of you, the world is going to chew you up and spit you out. You have no idea what's going to happen to you. You are so irrelevant. You have proven nothing. You've done nothing. You think an MBA means something? It's worthless. and I remember the guy beside me, he'd been beside me for two years and so I said to him, what an arrogant asshole he is.

3:52Well, guess what?

3:54Kevin O'Leary:He was right. He was 100 % right and the reason he pointed that out was the idea that your experiences make you who you are over time as an entrepreneur, as a parent, as a person, as whatever you are, as a brand, whatever you are. It's your experiences and how you deal with them that gives you that equity over time. And for many people, they can't make it. It doesn't work out for them. They don't have what it takes to take on the abuse that the world's going to throw at you. And just to give you full circle in a kumbaya, you know, circle of life, Lion King kind of moment, I got caught saying the same thing a couple of months ago at the Harvard MBA group.

4:33Kevin O'Leary:What he really explained was the idea of experience and how you'll have to listen to your gut to navigate the bombs of your career. And you have to trust it. So number two is you need to build that experience and all the way through, listen to your gut. Even when you're young, your gut will tell you, you'll know when it's right and wrong and don't go against your intuition. And the third habit that makes you very successful. You have to make time in your life for your significant other and your family. And it's very hard to do. This really sums it up. It tells you how important this is. Three-hour class, six to nine.

5:12Kevin O'Leary:We're almost closing. You know how 10 minutes left. This guy hadn't said a word the whole class. He finally puts up his hand and he says, I have a question for you. It's not about the case. It was the case we were doing. I need some advice. I said, okay. He said, I'm graduating this year. I'm an engineer, and I've developed a cloud-based software enterprise system that helps hedge funds with less than$250 million be compliant. And you know, it's very difficult to stay compliant when you're small. It was a subscription service. So these guys could use it on a cloud basis. And he had written this code while he was graduating in engineering.

5:53Kevin O'Leary:Wow. And his run rate was$5 million a year in subscriptions. That is like, and I said, I don't hear a problem here. I hear something incredible going on. this is amazing. And he said, well, here's the problem. My fiance came to me this morning and I'm really disturbed. She said, I have to make a choice. She can't live with me anymore. I never attend any of her family's picnics. I never see anybody on weekends. I'm either studying or I'm working on the code. That's all I can do. I need to do both. I need to get my graduation in engineering and I need to keep my customers happy because this is my business.

6:30Kevin O'Leary:He said, what do I do? I said, okay, which one is easier to replace? Your business or your fiance? That was probably not the right thing to say at the time, but that's what I was thinking in my head, and I think everybody else was too. This guy's phenomenally successful, clearly has gotten engaged to the wrong person that can't take that journey with him. Most likely outcome is divorce after they marry because he's going to work 25 hours a day, eight days a week. My point is, one of the biggest decisions you're going to make in your life between success and failure as a person is finding that right partner.

7:10Kevin O'Leary:And I think that a lot of people in their 20s really should think this through. Why the union breaks up 50 % of the time within five years is financial stress. One outspends the other. They're not in sync together. They don't share each other's goals. That's the hardest time in your life. In your 20s, maybe you start a family, whatever you're going to do. Picking that partner is the third thing you either do right or you do wrong.

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8:22Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of The Daily Motivation. And I hope you have an amazing rest of your day. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to click the link in the description that will take you to the full episode of our main podcast on the School of Greatness. And if you are loving the daily motivation, please follow us over on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and leave us a review over on Apple Podcasts right now. And if you want more exclusive content and ad-free listening experience, make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel on Apple Podcast right now. And if you want to get even more inspiration from our world-class guests and learn how to improve your life and take it to the next level, then make sure to sign up for the Greatness newsletter and get it delivered right to your inbox over at greatness.com slash newsletter.

9:13Again, have an amazing day and I'll see you tomorrow with another episode of the Daily Motivation Show.

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