thoughts

From the video: "here's what no one tells you about success..." (https://youtu.be/q8zho0ekWjE)

Article on Substack: (https://paulwroberts.substack.com/p/what-no-one-tells-you-about-success)

September 5, 2025.

consistency > everything else.

What sets apart those who make it and those who don’t is that those who make it actually do it every day.

Everyone has it within them to do something. You’re doing something by reading this. I'm doing something by writing this. But that doesn't make you a reader nor does it make me a writer. Now, if you read everyday of your life, curating specific articles and zines, sharing this with all of your friends in every conversation, then that would make you more of a reader; and if I wrote every day and posted consistently for weeks on end, then that would make me more of a writer. But the only difference between what we're doing now and those hypothetical versions of ourselves in the future is that those future versions of ourselves do it everyday.

Doing something everyday is not a trivial task. It sounds easy on paper, and in some cases it’s really easy to do it with the help of motivation. You're fired up, inspired, ready to change your life at 4am, but next week something comes up: you've got an appointment, your boss calls you to do overtime, your sister needs you to pick them up in the middle of the day; something always gets in the way. Even if the conditions are perfect and your entire schedule is cleared, you still don't want to do it because you feel exhausted. And I'll be the first one to say that these are perfectly valid reasons to not do something. You've got a lot on your plate, and really and truly you shouldn't deny picking up your sister to read another Substack article.

However, if you want to be successful at something, if you want to be good at something, if you really want to make something the thing you do for the rest of your life, then you have to do it no matter what.

That means being consistent to a fault. That means treating the thing your doing with as much importance as if your boss pulled you aside into an exclusive VIP meeting to give you a triple raise. That means telling people "Sorry, I can't help you, I'm busy." even if that person is your sister who's car has broken down. It sounds rude, and in practice you're probably going to be viewed as an asshole (and maybe you are lol), but that is what is required in order to be good at something—to be successful in some area.

To be successful you need to be good at something, and to be good at something it takes time, and you need to fight as much as you can to make the time you need. It doesn't matter how good of a reason you have for not doing something. If you would’ve pushed a thing back had someone threatened you at gunpoint to not do it, then you can push that thing back to work on whatever it is you really care about.

that includes doing it even if you're tired.

"Ok. ( :- | ) "

That's what I'd say (and look like) to you if you told me you couldn't do something because you were tired.

It doesn't matter how exhausted you are, or how legitimate of a reason you think you have to not do this thing; if you really want to be successful at something you have to do it no matter what.

I can already hear you traveling back in time and shouting to me through the screen: "BUT PAUL... IF I DO IT WHEN I'M TIRED THEN I'M JUST GONNA HALF ASS IT AND DO IT WORSE THAN IF I WAS FULLY AWAKE!!!"

Yeah, that's true, and you're 100% correct. But when was the last time you actually did something at 100% capacity? Last week? Last month? Three years ago when you were in university taking that final for the course you really had to pass? The fact is that you will never succeed at anything if you do it only when you feel like you can give it 100%. Success comes from working on it even at 50%, hell even at 10%. The person who works on something only when they can give 100% will never outdo the person who works on something endlessly, even if they never give 100%.