MINDSET

Pain plus reflection equals progress.

My natural state is an outsider. I've always been an outsider.

My best quality as an investor is that I can change my mind completely in a day. Most people can't do that. They fall in love with their positions.

I was running trades out of my dorm room at Harvard. There was never a moment where I thought this was unusual. I just wanted to compete.

Don't focus on making money. Focus on protecting what you have. The money will take care of itself if you manage the downside.

Short-term trading is about probability, not certainty. If you are looking for certainty, go buy index funds. If you want to trade, learn to be comfortable being wrong often and right more.

Most people want a get-rich-quick shortcut. Trading is the opposite. It rewards patience, study, and discipline — all things most people do not want to practice.

The primary difference between the rich and everyone else is what they do in their spare time.

You must gain control over your money or the lack of it will forever control you.

The most successful investors and entrepreneurs are the ones who never stop learning.

Your network is your net worth. Invest in relationships the same way you invest in assets.

I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.

Life's too short to hang out with people who are not resourceful.

Desire is a contract that you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.

If you are poor, you are going to stay poor unless you change how you think about money.

The temporary satisfaction of quitting is outweighed by the eternal suffering of mediocrity.

You will never be admired for your savings account. You will only be admired for your impact.

Don't be a little bitch with your goals.

Insecurity is the enemy of greatness. The more insecure you are, the less risk you will take.

Stop trying to be liked. Start trying to be respected.

A high-ticket closer does not sell. They help prospects make the best decision for themselves.

If you want to change the fruits, you have to change the roots.

Rich people are committed to being rich. Poor people want to be rich.

Rich people believe: I create my life. Poor people believe: Life happens to me.

Your income can only grow to the extent that you do.

The best investment I ever made was in myself. Everything else followed.

A complainer is never a winner, and a winner is never a complainer.

Every problem is a gift — without problems we would not grow.

The difference between those who succeed and those who fail isn't what they have — it's what they do.

The only thing standing between you and your goal is the story you keep telling yourself as to why you can't achieve it.

Winners use words that say "must" and "will." Losers use words that say "should" and "maybe."

Act as if! Act as if you're a wealthy man, rich already, and then you'll surely become rich.

Budgeting isn't about restriction. It's about permission — permission to spend without guilt because you know everything else is covered.

When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.

The only way you will ever permanently take control of your financial life is to dig deep and fix the root problem.

Comparison is the thief of joy and the thief of your bank account.

Contentment is the key to financial peace. When you stop wanting more, you realize you already have enough.

A little fear keeps you sharp. Don't run from it — use it.

If you want your life to be different, you have to be willing to do something different first.

The moment you accept responsibility for everything in your life is the moment you gain the power to change anything.

I was the worst student in my school. Then I learned that success is a skill, not a talent.

Your life only gets better when you get better. There is no other way.

The key to success is to focus on goals, not obstacles.

I'd rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right.

I didn't have any money when I was growing up. My father made $8,000 a year as a postal worker. That experience of not having money made me want to work incredibly hard.

I'm not a genius. I just work harder than almost anyone else on the ideas I believe in, and I don't let fear make my decisions for me.

I came to this country with nothing. That experience never leaves you. It makes you paranoid in a useful way — you never fully believe the success is permanent.

Growing up in South Africa taught me that systems that look permanent can change very fast. That's made me more willing to bet on change and less willing to assume the status quo is durable.

Stop whining. Start hustling.

We've always felt like we had to earn the right to be taken seriously, and that's fine. We're patient.

My dad used to ask at dinner: what did you fail at today? That taught me that failure is not the opposite of success — it is the path to it.

The only difference between a rich person and a poor person is how they use their time.

Broke is temporary. Poor is a mindset. My mother taught me that.

In seven words I will tell you everything about me. I never give up. Want to bet?

The most important thing in investing is temperament not intellect.

Basketball made me famous. Investing will make me wealthy. Those are two different games.

The greatest risk is not taking one. I have applied that to basketball business and tequila.

None can destroy iron, but its own rust can! Likewise, none can destroy a person, but their own mindset can.

Being underestimated is the biggest competitive advantage you can have.

Success is not an accident, success is a choice.

I'm not rich. I'm wealthy. Rich is in your pocket. Wealthy is in your mind.

I grew up in Israel. You learn early that complaining doesn't help. You just solve the problem.

You become what you believe. Not what you think or what you want. What you believe.

My dad taught me that the mind is stronger than the body. That lesson applies to everything.

I went from $7 billion to $1 billion. Most people would be destroyed. I'm still building.

I am not normal. If I were normal I would be working a normal job. I chose not to be normal. That is a decision everyone can make.

I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity.

Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be.

When you start a race, you're afraid of two things: dying, and finishing second.

Success in golf depends less on strength of body than upon strength of mind and character.

Winning isn't everything, but wanting to win is.

Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.

I grew up watching my family struggle financially. That is why I obsess over financial literacy.

I never wanted to be rich. I wanted to be free. The money came because I played free.

I study business the same way I studied film — every detail matters, every matchup is an advantage if you put in the work.

Every time someone tries to count me out, it fires me up more. That's just how I am wired.

Fitness is not just about performance on the course. It is about living a life worth performing for.

The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.

Racing was the most competitive environment I have ever been in. Everything else feels easier by comparison.

People used to say I was living in my father's shadow. But I was living in his memory, and there's a big difference.

They don't want you to win. I'm telling you — every day is a war. You have to choose to be the winner.

I spent years being the cautionary tale. I decided I'd rather be the comeback story everyone references.

I am an engineer. I build things. The fact that what I build now is made of capital instead of concrete does not change how I think about it.

When you have built something from nothing once, you know that losing everything is not the end. It is just the beginning of another chapter.

I started with $5,000 and the conviction that East Africa was about to change. That conviction was the real investment.

I came from a place where people had nothing. That memory never leaves. It is why I work the way I work.

Every mistake I made taught me something the classroom never could. I am not ashamed of my past. I am built from it.

You do not wait for opportunity in this business. You build the machine that creates opportunity. Then you invite others in.

Everyone told me it couldn't be done. I just did not believe them. That is the only edge I have ever had.

I grew up in Brooklyn. We didn't worry about what might go wrong. We worried about what we could build.

The people who do not give up are the ones who find a way to believe in abundance rather than scarcity.

Abandon anything about your life and habits that might be holding you back. Learn what you are afraid of and do it.

Failure is the universe telling you to try differently.

We started with $700 and I had no home. What you have matters less than what you believe.

I am not a speculator. I build things. That is a very different business.

You have to be a little bit stubborn in this business. A lot of people quit right before they find what they are looking for.

From 400 kilometers above the earth, every problem that felt enormous from the ground looks like what it actually is — a temporary inconvenience on a very small planet.

Entrepreneurship is something you're born with, or not.

Entrepreneurs are part of the broad continuum of people who want to break out of the ordinary.

My theory is that if you look confident you can pull off anything, even if you have no clue what you're doing.

I enjoy dreaming, I enjoy building, I enjoy the ambiguity and uncertainty of creation.

My mantra is to show up and raise my hand, and to do things that really interest me.

Even when you are number one, you have to think and fight like a challenger.

I am an insecure guy, I always want to be better.

Life is a long-term game. You gotta make sure your physical quality, your physical health, your mental health.

In power lifting, you're essentially maxing out, and you are completely stressing your body all the way to its limit.