August 5, 2025 • 27 mins
What if the secret to extraordinary success isn’t talent, skill, or even hard work—but a kind of “delusional” belief in yourself that borders on stubborn insanity? This podcast dives into the wild, unshakable confidence that propelled legends like Roger Bannister to shatter the four-minute mile and Bill Gates to build Microsoft from the ground up. It’s not just about talent; it’s about refusing to quit when everyone else says it’s impossible, about believing success is inevitable even when failure piles up.
Explore how this irrational optimism and relentless tenacity create the perfect storm for breakthroughs and exponential growth. Discover why being “delusional” might just be the best mindset hack for turning dreams into reality, enduring setbacks, and ultimately being in the right place at the right time. If you’re tired of playing it safe and ready to embrace the power of unwavering self-belief, this podcast is your new manifesto.
Tune in, challenge your limits, and learn how to harness the power of stubborn confidence to rewrite your success story. Don’t just dream it—believe it, and make it happen. Hit subscribe and share this with anyone who needs a dose of unstoppable belief!
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/life-hacks-diy-more-transform-your-everyday-with-simple-tricks-and-diy-magic--5995484/support.
Explore how this irrational optimism and relentless tenacity create the perfect storm for breakthroughs and exponential growth. Discover why being “delusional” might just be the best mindset hack for turning dreams into reality, enduring setbacks, and ultimately being in the right place at the right time. If you’re tired of playing it safe and ready to embrace the power of unwavering self-belief, this podcast is your new manifesto.
Tune in, challenge your limits, and learn how to harness the power of stubborn confidence to rewrite your success story. Don’t just dream it—believe it, and make it happen. Hit subscribe and share this with anyone who needs a dose of unstoppable belief!
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/life-hacks-diy-more-transform-your-everyday-with-simple-tricks-and-diy-magic--5995484/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wait, let me throw something out there.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
What if I told you, like really truly believed deep
down that I could actually end up playing plant guard
for the Lakers, or you know, maybe bitching in the majors.
Huh sounds kind of outlandish, nurch. Yeah, maybe even a
bit unhinged, especially you know, given my actual skills involved
more research than running plays.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Right, it sounds like a long shot, definitely.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
But here's the thing, the really interesting paradox that our
sources get into today. What if the biggest hurdle, the
thing really stopping you from chasing your loyaldest, most improbable dreams.
What if it isn't actually out there, not the physical limits,
not the competition, not lack of money, not even what
(00:43):
everyone else thinks. What if it's purely internal, like deep down,
the belief that something is actually impossible.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
That's a fascinating question.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
We've got some really compelling stuff here today that makes
us ask exactly that we're going to dig into this
surprising power of what some people might just call what
delusional self belief.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Yeah, it definitely sounds extreme on the surface, but you know,
when you actually look back through history, it's just full
of these moments where something everyone knew was impossible, well
suddenly it wasn't.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
And like our sources suggest.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
That shift often happened just because one person or maybe
a small group just refuse to accept it couldn't be done.
They held onto this unwavering conviction. Yeah, it's almost like
the collective mindset needed someone to just give it permission
to break free from that limitation permission.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I really like that framing. It feels so true. So today,
in this deep dive, we're going deep, We're really going
to unpack these sources that explore this really fascinating, sometimes
kind of unsettling link between that kind of belief, maybe
delusional belief, the hard work nobody sees, and what looks,
you know, from the outside, like overnight success. Our mission
(01:53):
for you listening is to try and pull out the
specific ingredients, the often counterintuitive things that let people achieve
what seems impossible, often against all the odds, all the
expert predictions, everything. So, yeah, let's unpack this fascinating idea.
Let's see what these stories tell us about human potential,
about persistence.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
And what's really compelling here. I think what the sources
really draw out is how these stories just fundamentally challenge
our usual ideas about success, you know, our conventional understanding
and maybe more importantly, what we think we're capable of.
They give us this unique lens, urging us to look past.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Just the result and ask why why did this happen?
Speaker 4 (02:35):
And why does that actually matter for anyone, you know,
anyone with a big dream, no matter how out there it.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Seems the first Okay, So to really get our heads
around this, let's travel back a bit back to a
time when a simple athletic achievement was just considered totally,
utterly impossible. Imagine a wall, not bricks and mortar. Though
this wall was built out of collective doubt, it was
reinforced by like scientific pronouncements that felt absolutely.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Solid, set in stone, almost exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
That was the four minute mile. For almost a decade,
running a mile in under four minutes considered physically impossible,
just a universally accepted truth, right, not just in sports,
but in science, medicine.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah, it was deeply ingrained.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
It was believed to be beyond what humans could do, period.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
And it wasn't just oh that's really hard.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
It was, as you said, a profound psychological barrier. And
it was constantly being reinforced by what everyone thought was
you know, solid science at the time, right the experts, Yeah,
respected scientists were actually saying the human body just wasn't
built for it, that the heart would literally explode or
your lungs would collapse if.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
You tried it.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Sounds crazy now, but that was the belief.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Think about the impact of that kind of belief, a
scientific truth like that. It doesn't just limit what athletes
aim for. It limits the effort anyone's willing to put in.
I mean, why push yourself towards something that everyone agrees
is impossible and.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Maybe even dangerous.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah, why it becomes this self fulfilling.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Thing, exactly, a self fulfilling prophecy of limitation.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
It's just incredible to stop and think how powerful that
kind of collective belief, especially when it's backed by science,
can be. It really creates this invisible ceiling doesn't say
absolutely do a mental block that's way stronger than any
physical one could be. And it makes you ask, I mean,
it makes me ask, how often do we do that
put these impossible limits on ourselves or on other people,
(04:29):
just based on you know, what's popular or what we've
always been.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Told prevailing wisdom.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah, instead of looking at the actual objective reality. I mean,
I can definitely think of times I thought, oh, that's
just how it is, or I'm just not that kind
of person, and later realized nope, it was just my
perception holding me back.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Precisely, it really highlights this tendency we have as humans
to just accept limits, especially if they come from authority
figures or you know, if everyone else seems to agree,
even if there's no absolute proof. These barriers often built
more on psychology, on these mental models and cultural stories
than on actual physical facts, and once they're up, they
(05:07):
kind of reinforce themselves. It's like a psychological inertia. Beliefs
just resist changing. And for years the four minute mile
was just the perfect example of that, a mental wall
that became real just because everyone believed it was real.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
And then here's where it gets really really good. Enter
Roger Banister describe here as an overconfident medical student. Uh huh,
and he just dared to think differently. He looked at
this brick wall everyone else saw the one backed by science,
and he basically saw nothing, just air because he had
(05:40):
this unique angle right. His medical studies give him a
different insight into physiology. He wasn't seeing an unbeatable physical barrier.
He saw an optimization problem.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
That's a great way to put it.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
He actually said. Because he was a medical student, he
knew that there wasn't a brick wall. His logic was
kind of simple but profound. If someone can run it
in four minutes in two point two seconds, well, surely
with the right training, the right technique, someone could shave off.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
That extra second or two.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Right, It's logical.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
So his belief wasn't just blind faith. It was, like
you said earlier, informed skepticism based on understanding the body's potential.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
And Banister's so called delusion. I mean, it really wasn't
irrational at all, was it.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
It was, like you said, informs skepticism about a limit
that everyone accepted but hadn't actually been proven absolutely exactly.
His medical background gave him that unique lens He could
question the basic assumptions everyone else just took for granted.
And this is so key for our whole deep dive
today if you connect this to the bigger picture, Like
any major achievement, any real innovation, it almost always comes
(06:46):
from someone having the guts to question those fundamental assumptions,
even when all the experts are shouting impossible.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
It's not just being optimistic.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
It's like a strategic reframing seeing possibilities others just can't
because they're stuck in the old way of things.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
And what happened next, I mean, it's legendary, right, It
perfectly captures what we're talking about. Yeah. May sixth, nineteen
fifty four, Roger Banister, this medical student with this revolutionary belief,
steps onto the track.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Yeah, he does it.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
He does it, runs the mile in four minutes and
one point two seconds, breaks the world record, sure, but
more importantly shatters that invisible psychological barrier.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
That one act, that single breakthrough, it just created this immediate,
profound psychological shift, not just for him but for literally everyone, runners, scientists, everyone.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Profound is almost an understatement. Seriously, think about this. For
nine years, right late forties to fifty four, nobody breaks
four minutes. It was like the mount Everest of running insurmountable.
But the second Banister does it, the second he proves
it can be done, Boom, Suddenly it's like everyone else
gets the memo.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
The lock is picked.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Yeah, the floodgates open.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Just under two months later, two months, an incredible twenty
two other runners also break the four minute mile.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Wow, twenty two back quickly, and it didn't stop.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
The current record. Now it's down to three minutes and
forty three seconds. It just completely dwarfs that original impossible
four minute mark.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
And what's just so fascinating there.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
What really nails the point is how fast human performance
adapted once that mental model of impossible was just gone,
replaced with proven possible.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
It wasn't like humans suddenly evolved in two months.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
Exactly, It was psychological evolution, almost instantaneous. This domino effect
just shows so powerfully that our perception, our collective belief
about what's possible, that's often a much bigger factor in
our actual capabilities than just pure physical limits. It's a
perfect example of that psychological inertia breaking down. One person
pioneers it and suddenly the reality shifts for everyone. The
(08:49):
wall just disappears.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Okay, so this kind of brings us to a more
personal place, maybe a little bittersweet even. Think back to
when you were a kid, Remember that feeling dreaming without
any limits, no practicality. Oh yeah, someone asks what you
want to be and it just rolls off the tongue, astronaut,
Olympic champion, movie star, scientists, curing cancer, whatever. Just this huge,
bold ambition felt totally.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Normal, totally no filters.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
But then, as our sources point out, something happens at
a certain age, the world starts whispering yeah, maybe shouting
be realistic, the dreaded R word. Yeah, you're suddenly expected
to lower your standards, you know, tone down those big dreams,
and you get told maybe a lot by well meeting people,
usually oh you can't.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
Do that, right, that's not practical, or have a backup
plan exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
It really makes you stop and wonder, what are we
actually being realistic about?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
What gets lost when we do that.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
This part of our sources really hits hard.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
I think it digs into that societal pressure often unconscious
do you just conform to stick to what's seen as realistic,
And how that pressure, even if well intentioned, can just
devastate real ambition, unique potential. It's like this collective filtering system,
and it raises a huge question, what's the actual cost
of trading that youthful, boundless and ambition for what society
(10:08):
calls practicality. I mean, how many potential banisters or gates
Is or amazing artists just get steered away or worse,
totally discouraged before they even really start chasing those dreams
that felt so real to them.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yeah, the what ifs, the tragedy of unfulfilled potential. It's huge.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
How many people never reach what they could have, not
because they lacked the talent or the drive, but just
because someone told them they couldn't or maybe shouldn't even try.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
And our sources they don't really pull punches here. They acknowledge, Okay,
most people should be chasing every dream. Yeah, you know,
fair enough, we can't all be rockstar.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
There's some realism needed.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Maybe, But then right away they hate you with the counter.
But there's some people out there that have it inside
of them.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
Ah, okay, the distinction, right, So that's critical.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
If most people shouldn't chase every dream, what makes the
ones who should different? Is it just this undeniable gut feeling,
this conviction that just won't shut up no matter what
anyone says. Maybe, like we're exploring, it's exactly that delusional
self belief, that almost irrational certainty about their own path
that lets them just tune out all the discouragement, all
the skepticism, and just keep going when anyone else would
(11:18):
logically quit.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
That's a really interesting thought. What actually defines these people?
Speaker 4 (11:22):
Is it something innate, like some kind of relentless drive gene,
or is it more like a learned refusal to accept
external limits as their own personal limits?
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Well, nature or nurture.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Our sources seem to lean towards this idea of like
cognitive resilience, almost like a psychological shield.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
It lets these.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Individuals filter out all the negative noise from outside and
just stay laser focused on this goal that seems totally
improbable to everyone else.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Like a protective bubble for the dream.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Welles kind of.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
It's a compelling idea, right that maybe some people are
just wired differently, or maybe they learn to wire themselves
to defy the common wisdom, the constant pressure and just
hold on to that dream like it's the most precious thing,
even when everyone's saying, let it.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Go, okay.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Let's shift gears a bit now, from breaking physical barriers
to building empires where the impossible looks different, creating just
unbelievable wealth and influence, reshaping whole industries.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Right, a different kind of mountain to climb, and.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
You can't really talk about that without talking about Bill Gates.
We look at stories like his, I mean, let's be honest,
we often simplify it, right, Oh, he just got lucky.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Yeah, that's the easy narrative.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
His net worth now something like fifteen point eight billion dollars.
The sources put it in this really stark perspective. One
percent of his money today is over five hundred times
what the average person earns in their entire life.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Wow, that really puts a number on it.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
It's just mind boggling, so huge. It's tempting to just
chalk it up to pure chance or say it was
handed to him. But again, our sources are saying, hang on,
look deeper.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
And that immediately brings up this really critical question, doesn't
it for us, for anyone trying to build anything signific
How do you balance the undeniable role of luck, good timing,
being in the right place. I we you ignore that
with the sheer, immense, often unseen effort, the brutal grind,
the vision, the drive that it clearly takes to build
(13:17):
something that genuinely changes the world.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Right.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
The sources really pushed back against that simple It was
just luck story and force us to see it as
much more complex, much more layered.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
And it's absolutely true Bill Gates had an incredibly lucky start,
a runway most people just don't get.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
We have to be clear about that.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Acknowledging the privilege is important.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Born into an upper middle class family, that means stability, resources.
Then crucially, aged twelve, his parents sent him to Lakeside,
a private school, and just a year later that school
gets access to something amazing for the time, a Teletype
Model thirty.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
A very early computer terminal.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yeah, not just a computer, like one of the only
computers accessible to a kid his age anywhere in the world. Then,
that early exposure at that age, it was like finding
gold in your backyard when nobody else even knew.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
What gold looked like.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Right, A massive head start, unparalleled, really.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
An extraordinary advantage, And if you connect that specific detail
back to the bigger picture, it just highlights those structural advantages,
that element of pure serendipity that some people definitely benefit from.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Definitely, it's a crucial reminder. I think that while individual
effort and vision are absolutely key, you can't discount systemic factors.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Access to unique opportunities.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
Plays this huge role in just creating the possibility in
the first place. For sure, it's important to keep that
balanced view. The starting line just isn't the same for everyone.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
But and this is the massive butt.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Even with that amazing head start, the path wasn't you know,
easy street, it wasn't guaranteed success. He and Paul Allen
started messing around with code stained up late. Yeah, obsessively, right,
But back then computers were seen as niche things, almost toys,
and they were actually discouraged, told to stopped playing around
with computers and go do.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Something real societal pressure again.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Exactly so Bill initially he did that, went off to
college to study law, like a real career path, But
while he was there, apparently he never stopped being obsessed
with computers.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
The passion was still there.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Totally spent all his spare time just reading everything you
could find, books, magazines, articles about computing, just fascinated by
the potential, that deep curiosity, that kind of delusional belief
maybe in what computers could do something most people couldn't
see yet that kept him going, kept him learning, even
while he was supposed to be on this other track. Yeah,
(15:38):
with the battle lots of his face, right, that pull
between what you feel drawn to and what society expects.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
And what's really striking there is just the persistence of
that passion despite all the external discouragement. It really speaks
to having this strong internal compass pointing you towards your
true thing even when everything else.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Advice career paths is saying go that way, that.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
Unwavering in, that deep conviction, even when nobody else gets it.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
That's such a powerful driver.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
It fuels that delusional commitment we keep talking about.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
And then comes a moment, just a regular night January
nineteen seventy five, he's reading Popular Electronics magazine, sees an
article about the Altair eighty eight hundred, one of the
first micro computers. Right the spark and bam.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
This idea hits him.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
He sees this future where everyone has a personal computer
and they're all going to need software. That idea, of course,
becomes Microsoft.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
The rest is history, as they say.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
And just eight months after that spark, eight intense months,
he and Paul Allen make this incredibly bold move drop
out of college, leave the conventional path, entirely, focus everything
on Microsoft, and for.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
The next five years that's exactly what they did.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Poured everything into this vision that must have seemed completely
crazy to most people.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Back then, totally crazy.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
And over the next what five decades, that vision turns
into this global empire, made something like eighty eight billion
dollars in profit just last year alone, und mentally changed everything.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
But let's forget the glossy overnight success highlight reel.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
For a second.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yeah, the reality check, because.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
The sources paint a much grimmer picture of the early days.
Microsoft was actually losing money for the first five.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Years, five years in the red. That's a long time.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Think about that. Five years burning cash, struggling, no profit,
chasing this dream that seemed absurd. And Bill Gates, despite
the lucky start, was apparently an incredibly, almost inhumanly hard worker.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
The work ethic part, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Sources say office seven days a week, up to eighteen
hours a day. He didn't believe in weekends, didn't believe
in vacation. From age twenty to thirty, apparently he and
Paul Allen took zero weekends off, not.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
One wow, for a decade, for a decade.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
And crucially, he never got funding from his parents for
Microsoft during those tough early years. That's not just dedication
that's well, that's a different kind of belief entirely, isn't
It almost bordering on that delusional conviction and its intensity.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
And this really brings up that critical point about true cost,
maybe the necessity of this delusional self belief. It's not
just wishing. It acts like this incredibly strong psychological shield.
It protects you, the entrepreneur or the artist whoever, through
those brutal years of failure, uncertainty, setbacks.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Yeah, the value of despair exactly.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
But and this is the crucial balance.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
It also demands this extraordinary, almost unbelievable commitment of time, energy.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
Pure effort.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Right.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
It's not free, not at all.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
It just highlights that huge success is almost never just
one lucky break. It's nearly always this compounding effect of relentless,
often invisible effort finally meeting those moments of opportunity, moments
that really only show up for people who've stuck around
long enough to actually be there.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
When they happen.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
You know, it's so tempting looking back at these huge successes,
breaking a record, building an empire, to just draw a
straight line right, connect the docs.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
Yeah, we love linear stories A to B two C.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
We really do. We like things neat, predictable, logical, But
what our sources are hammering home is that the actual path,
the path to the really big breakthroughs, it's much more
like a crazy roller coast.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I LA unpredictable, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Unexpected twists, sudden drops, long periods where nothing seems to happen,
and then maybe these incredible exponential climbs. With the source
of say, most of the time, things happen very randomly,
and when comes to success, it's usually exponential, meaning meaning
you can toil away for years, see almost no progress,
and then bam, suddenly a few lucky moments change things forever.
(19:31):
They just catalyze everything right.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Tipping point For.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Microsoft, that moment, that exponential surge was the IBM deal
in nineteen eighty, gave them access to millions of computers
after five long years of just losing money.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
And what's so fascinating there is the idea that consistent effort,
just keeping at it over a long enough time, it
doesn't just make you better at what you do. It
dramatically increases the odds of hitting one of those lucky moments.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
It increases the probability exactly.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
It's not passive waiting for luck. It's actively positioning yourself
for it, just by persevering, by showing up day after day,
year after year.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Even when it feels pointless.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Yeah, it's like that Iceberg illusion. Right, we only see
the shiny tip the success. We don't see the massive
base underneath, all the unseen effort, the failed attempts.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
The practice, the rejections.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
So true, the luck seems to find the people who
are just relentlessly doing the work.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Quentin Tarantino is another perfect example of this, this nonlinear
delusion driven persistence. People talk about pulp fiction like it
was this overnight sensation.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Yeah, like he just appeared fully formed.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
But he himself said very clearly, whatever success I've got
has come after like eight years of just nothing working
out eight years, eight years. Just imagine grinding away for
eight years writing, trying to get stuff made, pitching, failing
rejection after rejection, with zero visible payoff, no validation, no mopiment.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Most people would quit.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Well, logically, absolutely, logically you'd quit after year four. You'd think, Okay,
this isn't working time for plan B. It's the totally
human thing to do when reality isn't giving you anything back.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
And yet he didn't he kept going.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
And this is where that delusional belief just seems so
clear in action, despite everything logically pointing to failure, that
inner conviction, that guardian of his vision just kept him pushing,
And those eight years of nothing, they weren't wasted time.
The sources strongly suggest that period, that long slog was
the very thing that developed him into a great filmmaker.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
The process made.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Him great exactly.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
The talent wasn't just there, It was forged, honed, refined,
and that fire of consistent, frustrating, unrewarded effort. If you
connect that to skill development in general, it really suggests
talent is often the result of sticking with it through adversity,
not the thing you need before you start. That delusional
belief acts like this vital container right holding the developing talent,
(21:57):
protecting it psychologically until it's mature enough to find its moment.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
So because he kept going, because he got better through
the grind, and because he was just around for so long,
one day he was in the right place at the
right time.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Luck meeting preparation exactly.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Not just blind luck. It was luck meeting prepared persistent talent.
That's a totally different thing. It really supports the idea
that just showing up consistently for a really long time
that can be its own kind.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Of genius, which brings us right to the core kind
of provocative thesis of this whole deep dive. A really
powerful statement the sources make, I honestly don't see a
way where if you have one dream in life and
you're committed enough to continue going for it for at
least a decade, eventually it doesn't work out.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Is impossible?
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Wow, Okay, break that down.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
Basically, they're saying it will eventually work out. If you
stick with one dream commit fully for at least ten years,
success in some form becomes almost inevitable.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
That has an incredibly bold claim it will eventually work out.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
It is bold, but it's backed up by the stories.
Banister Gates, Tarantino.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Yeah, the pattern seems to be there.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
But the sources also point out the really hard part
why success rates for big dreams are actually so low.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
People just struggle to believe that deep down.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
The belief part again.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
So they change course, they pivot too soon, they give up,
They lower their expectations, often right before the breakthrough.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Might have happened.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
If you don't know the timeline could be next week,
could be thirty years exactly.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
You just don't know.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
But that crazy, unwavering self belief, that's stubbornness. It's not
just a personality quirk.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
It's essential fuel.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Yeah, it's the.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
Thing that guards your dream when all logic, all evidence,
all common sense is screaming, give up. This is pointless.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
The delusional guardian, that's what the.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
Sources call it, a delusional guardian, a protective force.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
They give this great image.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Think of a comedian practicing jokes in a dorm elevator,
bombing on stage forgetting lines, getting silence, painful, totally painful.
But they go home beat down by reality, but still thinking,
deep in, I am going.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
To be so good at this.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
That delusional thinking, the sources say, can sometimes carry you.
It's like a little guardian that keeps you protected while
you actually develop talent. It really forces you to rethink
the word delusion, doesn't it? Is it really negative? If
it functions like this powerful protective shield for growth, for potential,
for letting mastery actually incubate.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Maybe we need a new word for it.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
Maybe perhaps it's actually a strategic, almost necessary part of
achieving something extraordinary it's what gets you through that brutal
valley of death where sadly most dreams just die. It
allows that long, often agonizing incubation, time for skill and
opportunity to finally line up.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Hashtag hashtag outro.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
So okay, wrapping this up.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
What does this all mean for you listening right now,
thinking about your own goals, your own challenges. We've seen
how this thing that looks like delusional self belief, it's
not just a funny quirk. It seems to be this powerful,
maybe essential, ingredient for breaking through barriers.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Yeah, whether they're physical like the four minute mile, or
societal like that pressure to just be realistic.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
We saw it in the Bill Gates story, that mix
of huge effort and lucky timing, and we saw with
Tarantino that long winding, often frustrating path we're just sticking
with it, fueled by that delusion was the key. It
really reminds you that maybe the limits we feel most
strongly are the ones we've built inside our own heads,
(25:26):
and maybe they're just waiting for us to decide to
tear them down.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
And if you connect that to the really big picture
human potential, it points to this kind of liberating truth.
Doesn't it that the biggest obstacles, the really stubborn ones,
often aren't out there in the world. They're in our
own mental frameworks about.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
What's possible, our internal maps.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
Our sources really push us challenge us to question those limits,
starting with our own core beliefs about ourselves and what
can be done. It's about realizing that what looks like
an impossible wall often starts to crumble, maybe surprisingly fast,
with the right mix of belief, relentless effort, and just
refusing to quit before the game is truly over.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
You only get one life right, one shot at this
crazy journey, so it kind of makes sense to go
for what you really truly want absolutely. But here's the
final question, the thing to maybe chew on after we finish.
Are you actually willing to embrace that delusion, that unwavering,
maybe irrational conviction you need to just keep going when
(26:23):
absolutely nothing seems to be happening for potentially a very
very long time. Are you willing to be that person
still practicing, still writing, still building, even when you're bombing,
losing money, getting rejected. Because according to these stories, we've
unpacked the people who have that delusional guardian, the ones
who just stick around long enough, who refuse to give
in to the quiet despair of the present. They do
(26:45):
find that it eventually works out.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
Somehow, which leaves a really important, very personal question for you,
the listener, to take away. What impossible barrier are you
holding onto right now, maybe for yourself or your dreams,
maybe even for the world that might just be way
waiting for a good strong dose of that strategic, powerful,
delusional belief to finally shatter
Wait, let me throw something out there.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
What if I told you, like really truly believed deep
down that I could actually end up playing plant guard
for the Lakers, or you know, maybe bitching in the majors.
Huh sounds kind of outlandish, nurch. Yeah, maybe even a
bit unhinged, especially you know, given my actual skills involved
more research than running plays.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Right, it sounds like a long shot, definitely.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
But here's the thing, the really interesting paradox that our
sources get into today. What if the biggest hurdle, the
thing really stopping you from chasing your loyaldest, most improbable dreams.
What if it isn't actually out there, not the physical limits,
not the competition, not lack of money, not even what
(00:43):
everyone else thinks. What if it's purely internal, like deep down,
the belief that something is actually impossible.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
That's a fascinating question.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
We've got some really compelling stuff here today that makes
us ask exactly that we're going to dig into this
surprising power of what some people might just call what
delusional self belief.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Yeah, it definitely sounds extreme on the surface, but you know,
when you actually look back through history, it's just full
of these moments where something everyone knew was impossible, well
suddenly it wasn't.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
And like our sources suggest.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
That shift often happened just because one person or maybe
a small group just refuse to accept it couldn't be done.
They held onto this unwavering conviction. Yeah, it's almost like
the collective mindset needed someone to just give it permission
to break free from that limitation permission.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I really like that framing. It feels so true. So today,
in this deep dive, we're going deep, We're really going
to unpack these sources that explore this really fascinating, sometimes
kind of unsettling link between that kind of belief, maybe
delusional belief, the hard work nobody sees, and what looks,
you know, from the outside, like overnight success. Our mission
(01:53):
for you listening is to try and pull out the
specific ingredients, the often counterintuitive things that let people achieve
what seems impossible, often against all the odds, all the
expert predictions, everything. So, yeah, let's unpack this fascinating idea.
Let's see what these stories tell us about human potential,
about persistence.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
And what's really compelling here. I think what the sources
really draw out is how these stories just fundamentally challenge
our usual ideas about success, you know, our conventional understanding
and maybe more importantly, what we think we're capable of.
They give us this unique lens, urging us to look past.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Just the result and ask why why did this happen?
Speaker 4 (02:35):
And why does that actually matter for anyone, you know,
anyone with a big dream, no matter how out there it.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Seems the first Okay, So to really get our heads
around this, let's travel back a bit back to a
time when a simple athletic achievement was just considered totally,
utterly impossible. Imagine a wall, not bricks and mortar. Though
this wall was built out of collective doubt, it was
reinforced by like scientific pronouncements that felt absolutely.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Solid, set in stone, almost exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
That was the four minute mile. For almost a decade,
running a mile in under four minutes considered physically impossible,
just a universally accepted truth, right, not just in sports,
but in science, medicine.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah, it was deeply ingrained.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
It was believed to be beyond what humans could do, period.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
And it wasn't just oh that's really hard.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
It was, as you said, a profound psychological barrier. And
it was constantly being reinforced by what everyone thought was
you know, solid science at the time, right the experts, Yeah,
respected scientists were actually saying the human body just wasn't
built for it, that the heart would literally explode or
your lungs would collapse if.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
You tried it.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Sounds crazy now, but that was the belief.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Think about the impact of that kind of belief, a
scientific truth like that. It doesn't just limit what athletes
aim for. It limits the effort anyone's willing to put in.
I mean, why push yourself towards something that everyone agrees
is impossible and.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Maybe even dangerous.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah, why it becomes this self fulfilling.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Thing, exactly, a self fulfilling prophecy of limitation.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
It's just incredible to stop and think how powerful that
kind of collective belief, especially when it's backed by science,
can be. It really creates this invisible ceiling doesn't say
absolutely do a mental block that's way stronger than any
physical one could be. And it makes you ask, I mean,
it makes me ask, how often do we do that
put these impossible limits on ourselves or on other people,
(04:29):
just based on you know, what's popular or what we've
always been.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Told prevailing wisdom.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah, instead of looking at the actual objective reality. I mean,
I can definitely think of times I thought, oh, that's
just how it is, or I'm just not that kind
of person, and later realized nope, it was just my
perception holding me back.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Precisely, it really highlights this tendency we have as humans
to just accept limits, especially if they come from authority
figures or you know, if everyone else seems to agree,
even if there's no absolute proof. These barriers often built
more on psychology, on these mental models and cultural stories
than on actual physical facts, and once they're up, they
(05:07):
kind of reinforce themselves. It's like a psychological inertia. Beliefs
just resist changing. And for years the four minute mile
was just the perfect example of that, a mental wall
that became real just because everyone believed it was real.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
And then here's where it gets really really good. Enter
Roger Banister describe here as an overconfident medical student. Uh huh,
and he just dared to think differently. He looked at
this brick wall everyone else saw the one backed by science,
and he basically saw nothing, just air because he had
(05:40):
this unique angle right. His medical studies give him a
different insight into physiology. He wasn't seeing an unbeatable physical barrier.
He saw an optimization problem.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
That's a great way to put it.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
He actually said. Because he was a medical student, he
knew that there wasn't a brick wall. His logic was
kind of simple but profound. If someone can run it
in four minutes in two point two seconds, well, surely
with the right training, the right technique, someone could shave off.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
That extra second or two.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Right, It's logical.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
So his belief wasn't just blind faith. It was, like
you said earlier, informed skepticism based on understanding the body's potential.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
And Banister's so called delusion. I mean, it really wasn't
irrational at all, was it.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
It was, like you said, informs skepticism about a limit
that everyone accepted but hadn't actually been proven absolutely exactly.
His medical background gave him that unique lens He could
question the basic assumptions everyone else just took for granted.
And this is so key for our whole deep dive
today if you connect this to the bigger picture, Like
any major achievement, any real innovation, it almost always comes
(06:46):
from someone having the guts to question those fundamental assumptions,
even when all the experts are shouting impossible.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
It's not just being optimistic.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
It's like a strategic reframing seeing possibilities others just can't
because they're stuck in the old way of things.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
And what happened next, I mean, it's legendary, right, It
perfectly captures what we're talking about. Yeah. May sixth, nineteen
fifty four, Roger Banister, this medical student with this revolutionary belief,
steps onto the track.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Yeah, he does it.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
He does it, runs the mile in four minutes and
one point two seconds, breaks the world record, sure, but
more importantly shatters that invisible psychological barrier.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
That one act, that single breakthrough, it just created this immediate,
profound psychological shift, not just for him but for literally everyone, runners, scientists, everyone.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Profound is almost an understatement. Seriously, think about this. For
nine years, right late forties to fifty four, nobody breaks
four minutes. It was like the mount Everest of running insurmountable.
But the second Banister does it, the second he proves
it can be done, Boom, Suddenly it's like everyone else
gets the memo.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
The lock is picked.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Yeah, the floodgates open.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Just under two months later, two months, an incredible twenty
two other runners also break the four minute mile.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Wow, twenty two back quickly, and it didn't stop.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
The current record. Now it's down to three minutes and
forty three seconds. It just completely dwarfs that original impossible
four minute mark.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
And what's just so fascinating there.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
What really nails the point is how fast human performance
adapted once that mental model of impossible was just gone,
replaced with proven possible.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
It wasn't like humans suddenly evolved in two months.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
Exactly, It was psychological evolution, almost instantaneous. This domino effect
just shows so powerfully that our perception, our collective belief
about what's possible, that's often a much bigger factor in
our actual capabilities than just pure physical limits. It's a
perfect example of that psychological inertia breaking down. One person
pioneers it and suddenly the reality shifts for everyone. The
(08:49):
wall just disappears.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Okay, so this kind of brings us to a more
personal place, maybe a little bittersweet even. Think back to
when you were a kid, Remember that feeling dreaming without
any limits, no practicality. Oh yeah, someone asks what you
want to be and it just rolls off the tongue, astronaut,
Olympic champion, movie star, scientists, curing cancer, whatever. Just this huge,
bold ambition felt totally.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Normal, totally no filters.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
But then, as our sources point out, something happens at
a certain age, the world starts whispering yeah, maybe shouting
be realistic, the dreaded R word. Yeah, you're suddenly expected
to lower your standards, you know, tone down those big dreams,
and you get told maybe a lot by well meeting people,
usually oh you can't.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
Do that, right, that's not practical, or have a backup
plan exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
It really makes you stop and wonder, what are we
actually being realistic about?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
What gets lost when we do that.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
This part of our sources really hits hard.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
I think it digs into that societal pressure often unconscious
do you just conform to stick to what's seen as realistic,
And how that pressure, even if well intentioned, can just
devastate real ambition, unique potential. It's like this collective filtering system,
and it raises a huge question, what's the actual cost
of trading that youthful, boundless and ambition for what society
(10:08):
calls practicality. I mean, how many potential banisters or gates
Is or amazing artists just get steered away or worse,
totally discouraged before they even really start chasing those dreams
that felt so real to them.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yeah, the what ifs, the tragedy of unfulfilled potential. It's huge.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
How many people never reach what they could have, not
because they lacked the talent or the drive, but just
because someone told them they couldn't or maybe shouldn't even try.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
And our sources they don't really pull punches here. They acknowledge, Okay,
most people should be chasing every dream. Yeah, you know,
fair enough, we can't all be rockstar.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
There's some realism needed.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Maybe, But then right away they hate you with the counter.
But there's some people out there that have it inside
of them.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
Ah, okay, the distinction, right, So that's critical.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
If most people shouldn't chase every dream, what makes the
ones who should different? Is it just this undeniable gut feeling,
this conviction that just won't shut up no matter what
anyone says. Maybe, like we're exploring, it's exactly that delusional
self belief, that almost irrational certainty about their own path
that lets them just tune out all the discouragement, all
the skepticism, and just keep going when anyone else would
(11:18):
logically quit.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
That's a really interesting thought. What actually defines these people?
Speaker 4 (11:22):
Is it something innate, like some kind of relentless drive gene,
or is it more like a learned refusal to accept
external limits as their own personal limits?
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Well, nature or nurture.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Our sources seem to lean towards this idea of like
cognitive resilience, almost like a psychological shield.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
It lets these.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Individuals filter out all the negative noise from outside and
just stay laser focused on this goal that seems totally
improbable to everyone else.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Like a protective bubble for the dream.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Welles kind of.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
It's a compelling idea, right that maybe some people are
just wired differently, or maybe they learn to wire themselves
to defy the common wisdom, the constant pressure and just
hold on to that dream like it's the most precious thing,
even when everyone's saying, let it.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Go, okay.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Let's shift gears a bit now, from breaking physical barriers
to building empires where the impossible looks different, creating just
unbelievable wealth and influence, reshaping whole industries.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Right, a different kind of mountain to climb, and.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
You can't really talk about that without talking about Bill Gates.
We look at stories like his, I mean, let's be honest,
we often simplify it, right, Oh, he just got lucky.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Yeah, that's the easy narrative.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
His net worth now something like fifteen point eight billion dollars.
The sources put it in this really stark perspective. One
percent of his money today is over five hundred times
what the average person earns in their entire life.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Wow, that really puts a number on it.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
It's just mind boggling, so huge. It's tempting to just
chalk it up to pure chance or say it was
handed to him. But again, our sources are saying, hang on,
look deeper.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
And that immediately brings up this really critical question, doesn't
it for us, for anyone trying to build anything signific
How do you balance the undeniable role of luck, good timing,
being in the right place. I we you ignore that
with the sheer, immense, often unseen effort, the brutal grind,
the vision, the drive that it clearly takes to build
(13:17):
something that genuinely changes the world.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Right.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
The sources really pushed back against that simple It was
just luck story and force us to see it as
much more complex, much more layered.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
And it's absolutely true Bill Gates had an incredibly lucky start,
a runway most people just don't get.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
We have to be clear about that.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Acknowledging the privilege is important.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Born into an upper middle class family, that means stability, resources.
Then crucially, aged twelve, his parents sent him to Lakeside,
a private school, and just a year later that school
gets access to something amazing for the time, a Teletype
Model thirty.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
A very early computer terminal.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yeah, not just a computer, like one of the only
computers accessible to a kid his age anywhere in the world. Then,
that early exposure at that age, it was like finding
gold in your backyard when nobody else even knew.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
What gold looked like.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Right, A massive head start, unparalleled, really.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
An extraordinary advantage, And if you connect that specific detail
back to the bigger picture, it just highlights those structural advantages,
that element of pure serendipity that some people definitely benefit from.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Definitely, it's a crucial reminder. I think that while individual
effort and vision are absolutely key, you can't discount systemic factors.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Access to unique opportunities.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
Plays this huge role in just creating the possibility in
the first place. For sure, it's important to keep that
balanced view. The starting line just isn't the same for everyone.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
But and this is the massive butt.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Even with that amazing head start, the path wasn't you know,
easy street, it wasn't guaranteed success. He and Paul Allen
started messing around with code stained up late. Yeah, obsessively, right,
But back then computers were seen as niche things, almost toys,
and they were actually discouraged, told to stopped playing around
with computers and go do.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Something real societal pressure again.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Exactly so Bill initially he did that, went off to
college to study law, like a real career path, But
while he was there, apparently he never stopped being obsessed
with computers.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
The passion was still there.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Totally spent all his spare time just reading everything you
could find, books, magazines, articles about computing, just fascinated by
the potential, that deep curiosity, that kind of delusional belief
maybe in what computers could do something most people couldn't
see yet that kept him going, kept him learning, even
while he was supposed to be on this other track. Yeah,
(15:38):
with the battle lots of his face, right, that pull
between what you feel drawn to and what society expects.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
And what's really striking there is just the persistence of
that passion despite all the external discouragement. It really speaks
to having this strong internal compass pointing you towards your
true thing even when everything else.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Advice career paths is saying go that way, that.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
Unwavering in, that deep conviction, even when nobody else gets it.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
That's such a powerful driver.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
It fuels that delusional commitment we keep talking about.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
And then comes a moment, just a regular night January
nineteen seventy five, he's reading Popular Electronics magazine, sees an
article about the Altair eighty eight hundred, one of the
first micro computers. Right the spark and bam.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
This idea hits him.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
He sees this future where everyone has a personal computer
and they're all going to need software. That idea, of course,
becomes Microsoft.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
The rest is history, as they say.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
And just eight months after that spark, eight intense months,
he and Paul Allen make this incredibly bold move drop
out of college, leave the conventional path, entirely, focus everything
on Microsoft, and for.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
The next five years that's exactly what they did.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Poured everything into this vision that must have seemed completely
crazy to most people.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Back then, totally crazy.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
And over the next what five decades, that vision turns
into this global empire, made something like eighty eight billion
dollars in profit just last year alone, und mentally changed everything.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
But let's forget the glossy overnight success highlight reel.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
For a second.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yeah, the reality check, because.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
The sources paint a much grimmer picture of the early days.
Microsoft was actually losing money for the first five.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Years, five years in the red. That's a long time.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Think about that. Five years burning cash, struggling, no profit,
chasing this dream that seemed absurd. And Bill Gates, despite
the lucky start, was apparently an incredibly, almost inhumanly hard worker.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
The work ethic part, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Sources say office seven days a week, up to eighteen
hours a day. He didn't believe in weekends, didn't believe
in vacation. From age twenty to thirty, apparently he and
Paul Allen took zero weekends off, not.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
One wow, for a decade, for a decade.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
And crucially, he never got funding from his parents for
Microsoft during those tough early years. That's not just dedication
that's well, that's a different kind of belief entirely, isn't
It almost bordering on that delusional conviction and its intensity.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
And this really brings up that critical point about true cost,
maybe the necessity of this delusional self belief. It's not
just wishing. It acts like this incredibly strong psychological shield.
It protects you, the entrepreneur or the artist whoever, through
those brutal years of failure, uncertainty, setbacks.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Yeah, the value of despair exactly.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
But and this is the crucial balance.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
It also demands this extraordinary, almost unbelievable commitment of time, energy.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
Pure effort.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Right.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
It's not free, not at all.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
It just highlights that huge success is almost never just
one lucky break. It's nearly always this compounding effect of relentless,
often invisible effort finally meeting those moments of opportunity, moments
that really only show up for people who've stuck around
long enough to actually be there.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
When they happen.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
You know, it's so tempting looking back at these huge successes,
breaking a record, building an empire, to just draw a
straight line right, connect the docs.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
Yeah, we love linear stories A to B two C.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
We really do. We like things neat, predictable, logical, But
what our sources are hammering home is that the actual path,
the path to the really big breakthroughs, it's much more
like a crazy roller coast.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I LA unpredictable, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Unexpected twists, sudden drops, long periods where nothing seems to happen,
and then maybe these incredible exponential climbs. With the source
of say, most of the time, things happen very randomly,
and when comes to success, it's usually exponential, meaning meaning
you can toil away for years, see almost no progress,
and then bam, suddenly a few lucky moments change things forever.
(19:31):
They just catalyze everything right.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Tipping point For.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Microsoft, that moment, that exponential surge was the IBM deal
in nineteen eighty, gave them access to millions of computers
after five long years of just losing money.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
And what's so fascinating there is the idea that consistent effort,
just keeping at it over a long enough time, it
doesn't just make you better at what you do. It
dramatically increases the odds of hitting one of those lucky moments.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
It increases the probability exactly.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
It's not passive waiting for luck. It's actively positioning yourself
for it, just by persevering, by showing up day after day,
year after year.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Even when it feels pointless.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Yeah, it's like that Iceberg illusion. Right, we only see
the shiny tip the success. We don't see the massive
base underneath, all the unseen effort, the failed attempts.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
The practice, the rejections.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
So true, the luck seems to find the people who
are just relentlessly doing the work.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Quentin Tarantino is another perfect example of this, this nonlinear
delusion driven persistence. People talk about pulp fiction like it
was this overnight sensation.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Yeah, like he just appeared fully formed.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
But he himself said very clearly, whatever success I've got
has come after like eight years of just nothing working
out eight years, eight years. Just imagine grinding away for
eight years writing, trying to get stuff made, pitching, failing
rejection after rejection, with zero visible payoff, no validation, no mopiment.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Most people would quit.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Well, logically, absolutely, logically you'd quit after year four. You'd think, Okay,
this isn't working time for plan B. It's the totally
human thing to do when reality isn't giving you anything back.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
And yet he didn't he kept going.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
And this is where that delusional belief just seems so
clear in action, despite everything logically pointing to failure, that
inner conviction, that guardian of his vision just kept him pushing,
And those eight years of nothing, they weren't wasted time.
The sources strongly suggest that period, that long slog was
the very thing that developed him into a great filmmaker.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
The process made.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Him great exactly.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
The talent wasn't just there, It was forged, honed, refined,
and that fire of consistent, frustrating, unrewarded effort. If you
connect that to skill development in general, it really suggests
talent is often the result of sticking with it through adversity,
not the thing you need before you start. That delusional
belief acts like this vital container right holding the developing talent,
(21:57):
protecting it psychologically until it's mature enough to find its moment.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
So because he kept going, because he got better through
the grind, and because he was just around for so long,
one day he was in the right place at the
right time.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Luck meeting preparation exactly.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Not just blind luck. It was luck meeting prepared persistent talent.
That's a totally different thing. It really supports the idea
that just showing up consistently for a really long time
that can be its own kind.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Of genius, which brings us right to the core kind
of provocative thesis of this whole deep dive. A really
powerful statement the sources make, I honestly don't see a
way where if you have one dream in life and
you're committed enough to continue going for it for at
least a decade, eventually it doesn't work out.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Is impossible?
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Wow, Okay, break that down.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
Basically, they're saying it will eventually work out. If you
stick with one dream commit fully for at least ten years,
success in some form becomes almost inevitable.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
That has an incredibly bold claim it will eventually work out.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
It is bold, but it's backed up by the stories.
Banister Gates, Tarantino.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Yeah, the pattern seems to be there.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
But the sources also point out the really hard part
why success rates for big dreams are actually so low.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
People just struggle to believe that deep down.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
The belief part again.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
So they change course, they pivot too soon, they give up,
They lower their expectations, often right before the breakthrough.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Might have happened.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
If you don't know the timeline could be next week,
could be thirty years exactly.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
You just don't know.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
But that crazy, unwavering self belief, that's stubbornness. It's not
just a personality quirk.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
It's essential fuel.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Yeah, it's the.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
Thing that guards your dream when all logic, all evidence,
all common sense is screaming, give up. This is pointless.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
The delusional guardian, that's what the.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
Sources call it, a delusional guardian, a protective force.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
They give this great image.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Think of a comedian practicing jokes in a dorm elevator,
bombing on stage forgetting lines, getting silence, painful, totally painful.
But they go home beat down by reality, but still thinking,
deep in, I am going.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
To be so good at this.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
That delusional thinking, the sources say, can sometimes carry you.
It's like a little guardian that keeps you protected while
you actually develop talent. It really forces you to rethink
the word delusion, doesn't it? Is it really negative? If
it functions like this powerful protective shield for growth, for potential,
for letting mastery actually incubate.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Maybe we need a new word for it.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
Maybe perhaps it's actually a strategic, almost necessary part of
achieving something extraordinary it's what gets you through that brutal
valley of death where sadly most dreams just die. It
allows that long, often agonizing incubation, time for skill and
opportunity to finally line up.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Hashtag hashtag outro.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
So okay, wrapping this up.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
What does this all mean for you listening right now,
thinking about your own goals, your own challenges. We've seen
how this thing that looks like delusional self belief, it's
not just a funny quirk. It seems to be this powerful,
maybe essential, ingredient for breaking through barriers.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Yeah, whether they're physical like the four minute mile, or
societal like that pressure to just be realistic.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
We saw it in the Bill Gates story, that mix
of huge effort and lucky timing, and we saw with
Tarantino that long winding, often frustrating path we're just sticking
with it, fueled by that delusion was the key. It
really reminds you that maybe the limits we feel most
strongly are the ones we've built inside our own heads,
(25:26):
and maybe they're just waiting for us to decide to
tear them down.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
And if you connect that to the really big picture
human potential, it points to this kind of liberating truth.
Doesn't it that the biggest obstacles, the really stubborn ones,
often aren't out there in the world. They're in our
own mental frameworks about.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
What's possible, our internal maps.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
Our sources really push us challenge us to question those limits,
starting with our own core beliefs about ourselves and what
can be done. It's about realizing that what looks like
an impossible wall often starts to crumble, maybe surprisingly fast,
with the right mix of belief, relentless effort, and just
refusing to quit before the game is truly over.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
You only get one life right, one shot at this
crazy journey, so it kind of makes sense to go
for what you really truly want absolutely. But here's the
final question, the thing to maybe chew on after we finish.
Are you actually willing to embrace that delusion, that unwavering,
maybe irrational conviction you need to just keep going when
(26:23):
absolutely nothing seems to be happening for potentially a very
very long time. Are you willing to be that person
still practicing, still writing, still building, even when you're bombing,
losing money, getting rejected. Because according to these stories, we've
unpacked the people who have that delusional guardian, the ones
who just stick around long enough, who refuse to give
in to the quiet despair of the present. They do
(26:45):
find that it eventually works out.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
Somehow, which leaves a really important, very personal question for you,
the listener, to take away. What impossible barrier are you
holding onto right now, maybe for yourself or your dreams,
maybe even for the world that might just be way
waiting for a good strong dose of that strategic, powerful,
delusional belief to finally shatter
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