Hey Simon, I will thank you in three years and I will start from today.
- Surround yourself with smart people — “People ahead of you in life and business can literally drag your intelligence up.” Four steps: seek out mentors (use free content and ask questions), never be the smartest person in the room, build diverse circles, and choose partners/friends/co-founders wisely.
- Take action — “Knowledge becomes wisdom when you use it.” Start small, repeat relentlessly, learn from mistakes, and show your work because “feedback accelerates growth.”
- Create space to think — “Schedule white space,” use relaxing environments, “capture sparks,” and “reflect weekly” (move one small rock at a time).
- Move your body, grow your mind — “A healthy body fuels a smarter brain.” Exercise every day (even a 20-minute walk), try strength or cardio, and “track progress.”
- Focus on purpose — “Purpose expands thinking. Money alone limits it.” Clarify your why, align work to values, use money as a tool, and think long term.
- Ignore work-life balance — “There is no work-life balance.” Integrate: work with people you like, bring family into it, share upside, “work hard and don’t complain,” and “enjoy the hustle.”
- Play to your strengths — “Smart isn’t knowing everything. It’s leveling what you do naturally.” Identify your edge, delegate weaknesses, and build around your gift.
How To Change Your Life — Original Content, Clearly Structured
Introduction
I’m going to share with you the seven rules that made me rich and made me smarter. I’m Simon Squib. I built 19 companies, sold three of them for more money than I’ll ever need, and invested in over 80 startups. Along the way, I discovered something surprising. Getting rich isn’t luck. It’s about having the right foundation in place. These foundations are what allow you to unlock your full potential. Today, I’m going to give you the exact rules that made me wealthier and smarter. Rules that you can start applying right now to change your life.
1) Surround Yourself with Smart People
It sounds obvious. I just sat down with Simon SK, one of the authors I looked up to five years ago when I started this project where I wanted to help people live the life they love. I wanted people to find their dream by sitting with him. I felt my intelligence grow. And so the first thing I want to teach you is the four steps in which you can surround yourself with smart people.
a) Seek Out Mentors
You’ve probably heard this a million times, but don’t do it the way people think you need to do it. Don’t go and pay someone to be your mentor. Instead, have a strategy. First of all, there’ll be a load of people out there like me that have content that you can go and watch. You don’t need to go and pay them. Most of the content is actually free. The second way is you can go and actually ask a question of someone you think’s got the answer to your question. People ahead of you in life and business can literally drag your intelligence up.
b) Never Be the Smartest Person in the Room
I’ve always seen sitting at the table with people that know more than me. Recently, I was sitting with a billionaire at a dinner in London, and everybody around the table had built billion-dollar companies. I was the only one that had built a multi-million dollar company. Everybody else had built a billion-dollar company. And I listened to how these billionaires thought and I learned stuff. It’s not who you know, it’s who you ask. You need to show that you have hunger to be in that room.
c) Build Diverse Circles
Different perspectives sharpen thinking. I’ve been lucky enough to hang out with Alex Horoszi and Simon Sek and Chris do very different people with even different strategies. It’s great to understand how these different people think and it sharpens you up if you get to hang out with them. Now, those are big names. I’m not saying you have to hang out with big names. You might be thinking you can’t get hold of these people. By the way, you can go watch the podcast I’ve done with these people. That is like hanging out with diverse circles, right? It doesn’t have to be you personally meet them, but try to make a list of all the people that you want to meet. Manifest it. Manifesting is real.
d) Choose Wisely (Partners, Friends, Co-founders)
And then the fourth thing you can do is choose wisely around partners, friends, co-founders. My wife is the single biggest reason I’m successful. She’s smarter than me. I’m married up, and I want you to do the same. Hang out with someone in your life who can teach you stuff, who maybe is diverse, different from you, who is smarter than you. I think your partner in life will literally determine whether or not you make it.
2) Take Action
I take action. I don’t just have theory. Theory doesn’t make you smarter. Actually, in my opinion, it allows you to have a concept, but without action applying yourself, then it doesn’t actually sink in and become another thing that you know. Knowledge becomes wisdom when you use it. These are the four things you can do to ensure you take action.
a) Start Small
When I started this whole platform, we now have 17 million followers. We get 500 million views a month. We get more views on our channels than the BBC get, right? But it all started with me, literally a $99 microphone interviewing someone to understand how they made their business successful, capturing that knowledge so you could listen to it. It turned into this today. That is not understood enough. When people see what I’ve got today, this big platform, millions of views, people understand where it starts, and it has to start small to make it digestible, to see if you enjoy it, to see if it’s right for you. And that’s what you need to do. Start small.
b) Repeat Relentlessly
So again using my early podcast. The first episode is so bad. The second episode is also bad. The third episode is slightly better. Fourth episode I hired an editor to edit the videos. The video starts to look a bit better. Fifth video started to all sound okay. Sixth video had a problem with the editor. Didn’t turn up. Didn’t do the work. Had to find someone else. Step back. Wasn’t as good. Basically I just kept repeating, repeating for 5 years every day. And here we are today. But the point I’m trying to get to is that I will keep going. I will repeat relentlessly. And if you understand this concept of repeat relentlessly, you get smarter cuz you just don’t stop learning.
c) Learn from Mistakes
Failure is the most powerful thing. There’s a reason A students end up working for D&E students. D& students learn that failure isn’t so bad and the world doesn’t end. If I fail at a subject, right, then I know I’m not probably interested in that subject or it’s not for me. Every failure is a data point and that data point can help you get smarter and it helps you understand the world better.
d) Show Your Work
Feedback accelerates growth. If you’re baking something and you show, for example, you’re baking a cake and you show the process of baking a cake, not just the end cake, then someone can give you comments. Why don’t you add this? Why don’t you change that? Why don’t you do this instead? Things you didn’t know you didn’t know. It’s why I love people that are building in public, right? Because they’re building something and I see they’re making a mistake. I can tell them, but they just show me the outcome. How do I know how to help them? How do I know what they’re not doing? Right? In the cake-baking analogy, feedback accelerates growth because again that loop, that relentless learning loop makes you smarter.
3) Create Space to Think
These are the four steps to create space to think and downtime to unlock breakthroughs.
a) Schedule White Space
Block time with no meetings, no phone calls. Treat it like an appointment like anything else. Just give yourself time to really think. Some of my personal best ideas have been when I’m on a walk, when I’m in the shower.
b) Use Environments That Relax You
The idea for this video came when I was in the hot tub. I’m like, people want to be smarter. Let’s make content that helps people lift up their IQ. Walking, journaling, doing nothing, relaxing allows your adrenaline to drop and your creative bubble to burst.
c) Capture Sparks
Keep a notebook or phone ready. I make notes on my phone all the time. I’m lucky enough to have a group of very creative people. So, we have a WhatsApp group and every time I have an idea, I drop it in there and let that idea grow. Create sparks. Allow yourself to have these ideas grow and other people can hear your idea and help it grow. Of course, if you have the wrong group, those people also kill the idea. I always have a philosophy. Yes. And any creative idea is not it’s crap. It can never be crappy. It must be it’s yes and what can we do to make it better? And that’s a really interesting way to think about capturing sparks. How can you do yes and to any idea?
d) Reflect Weekly
Review ideas, pick one to act on. I love this Japanese proverb, which is to move a mountain, you must do it by first moving one small rock at a time. So if you can reflect weekly, review ideas, and pick one to act on. It’s like taking one small rock and moving it. To eventually build your mountain, the perfect life. The mountain is the perfect life. Don’t give yourself 10 things to do in a week. Don’t overload it so that nothing gets done well. Pick one thing, give it attention, focus on it, and eventually that one act in that one week and that one success will motivate you to do it again and again and again till you move the whole mountain.
4) Move Your Body, Grow Your Mind
A healthy body fuels a smarter brain. If I haven’t exercised, if I haven’t given myself that extra push for my body to feel useful, then I’m not as good at my job. I’m not as sharp. I’m not as quick. I’m not a health guru, by the way, but this is actually in a business context.
a) Exercise Every Day
Even a 20-minute walk will boost your brain function. I invested in a business called Heights. The whole reason I invested in them is because they talk about how, you know, going for a 20-minute walk will boost your brain function. Do it. It will make you smarter if you do it.
b) Try Strength or Cardio Training
Again, this for me, I’m trying to run 5 km a day. I’m not doing it every day. I feel like after I do the runs, I’m smarter. I’m definitely less angry. I’m less frustrated, annoyed. If I exercise, I feel better.
c) Track Progress
Small physical wins build confidence and sharpen thinking. And I’m telling you this as someone that’s not a health guru, but as someone that has learned this the hard way. When I sold my company, Fluid, I basically exercised every single day because I could cuz I wasn’t working anymore. I was very lucky, right? But I noticed that I started writing a book. I’m dyslexic. Like I I I can’t normally write, but I was able to write a book. This book, by the way, What’s Your Dream? Which you can buy. The link’s down below. But I was able to write a book, a guy who who at school couldn’t read the blackboard. And I don’t think I would have been able to do that if I hadn’t literally completely dedicated myself to exercise.
Now, of course, it’s because I didn’t need to work. So, it’s very easy to say, but just get up an hour earlier or make your lunchtime workout time. Focus on it. This will make you smarter. I promise. Studies show regular exercise likely grows new brain cells. I’ve interviewed people like Richard Branson. And in one of the interviews recently, he talks about how him going biking has probably ensured the success of Virgin, right? And exercise is their number one productivity hack. Listen to these people that know.
5) Focus on Purpose
Figure out what purpose means and apply it to your life. And the reason it makes you smarter is purpose expands thinking. Money alone limits it. If you chase money, you look for shortcuts. If you chase purpose, you’ll find the route that grows you. So there are four steps I think to kind of focusing on purpose.
a) Clarify Your Why
What impact matters beyond money. I mean obviously for me you if you’re watching this, you probably know me by now. Like the education system is broken. It’s letting people down. It’s not giving people financial literacy. It’s not giving people the tools to have a better life. Now I believe in for-profit for good. So we will make money and I will use that money to fix the education system. At 3:00 in the morning I’m learning, right? I won’t stop learning until I can figure out how to fix this problem that is so institutionally embedded in the system. But it helps me get smarter because my purpose is so powerful.
b) Align Your Work to Values
When it feels meaningful, creativity flows. You know, values for me like I I’ve said it before in previous videos. I’d repeat it. Like I will never work for a tobacco company. I will never help vape companies. My values allow me to stay positive and keep learning. If I start compromising those values, my learning brain shuts down and I’m just again focusing on money or I’ve let myself down by going for the short win. So align your work to your values and stick to those values because it will help you get smarter.
c) Use Money as a Tool
Fuel for purpose, not the finish line. Money is just fuel for your car. You need to know where that car is going to know how much fuel you need. Don’t let money distract you. And once you realize you don’t need money to start a business, for example, you open up your mind. And opening up your mind allows you to get more intelligent, right? Because you can break limiting belief systems. Again, I talk about this in my book. This is one of the limiting belief systems that people really believe. You need money to start a business. And it’s not true. Even if you’re hearing this, you Simon, you need money to start a business. No, you don’t. Don’t let money stop you growing your mind and thinking about how to solve a problem.
d) Think Long Term
I can’t tell you how important this is. Like I’ve been doing what I’m doing now for 5 years and I didn’t start off thinking how can I make money and I didn’t start off thinking what’s the metrics. I had I think on my first ever podcast I had like a 100 people listening to it. It didn’t stop me. I didn’t measure my metrics. I managed my purpose. I was like 100 people might have got something from the podcast that I just put out. Think long term. You know enjoy the journey maybe will help you do it. Purpose keeps you learning when quick wins help you kind of fade away and get lazy. Right? We need a bit of pain.
So, one of my favorite brands is Patagonia. They have such a great purpose, right? Protect the planet. It led to a smarter, more radical business, something that became worth billions. It’s just a clothing company selling clothes. I think that whole purpose made them go they they learned and went really deep into the subject of what to protect the planet means. Making clothes seems contradictory to protecting the planet, right? They did adverts where they said, “Don’t buy this jacket.” You know, like it leads to a smarter person if you lead with this purpose.
6) Ignore Work-Life Balance
This work-life balance concept is a construct pushed by companies. The origins that I see for this is like Henry Ford and the Ford factories. He wanted people to work 5 days a week in the factory for pretty low wages, pretty boring job, right? Pulling a lever every day, all day. The pitch was, well, you know, you’ll get the weekends. So, a bit of a pitch. It’s like, hate your job, but don’t worry, the weekend’s coming.
The world’s different now. The way to think about this now is, and I know a lot of people hate me for saying it, but you have to just ignore what people say because they’re all trapped in this 9 to 5 mindset Monday to Friday. It’s like there is no work-life balance. That’s it. The step is stop thinking about work-life balance. You want to just enjoy what you do and there will always be highs and lows. Frankly, if you’re working in a factory all week and then you have the weekend to yourself, there’s still going to be moments in that weekend where it’s not great for whatever reason. You’ve got a hangover, you’re, you know, you’re not feeling well, whatever it is, right? There’s no perfect I’m not working now I feel good. Covid taught us this as well, right? Not working doesn’t equal happiness.
Four Things to Think Of
Work with people you like working with. That makes work-life integration easier. The second point is bring your family into the equation. Get them to be a part of it. Three is share the upside of everything you do. Don’t hold on to all the equity of everything for yourself, right? Make it like people you work with are going to get rich along with you. And the fourth thing, and again I know when I say this for a lot of people they might get a bit annoyed, but like work hard and don’t complain. I mean like enjoy it. Like hustle. And this word’s got cancelled. I don’t know why, but like I love hustling to create things, make things, do things, build things. Just enjoy the hustle. And don’t make hustle a negative word. It’s a positive word. The culture out there that works in a factory culture has made hustle a negative word. If burnout equals hustle, no, burnout equals having no purpose. That’s what causes burnout, not hustle.
7) Play to Your Strengths
You know, you have to fight back against what the school system did to you. The school system will tell you if you got a D in a subject, you’ve got to go and study more in that subject to get an A. As if A is the only answer to being successful in life. But what getting a D tells you is it’s probably not your strength, that subject. And whatever you got an A in, you should probably double down on it. Smart isn’t knowing everything. It’s leveling what you do naturally and are naturally good at and can get great at.
a) Identify Your Edge
What do you do better than most? And just go all in on it, whatever it is. And 100,000 people will tell you, you know, if you’re a footballer, you won’t make it. Pro footballer. Oh, so hard. So what? You know, get good at football. It doesn’t matter what other people say. If you like maths, get good at it. Become the best at it. Identify your edge. Double down on it.
b) Delegate Your Weakness
Too many people try to do it all, and it’s a mistake. It drains you. I’m smart enough. I can do accounts, but it takes up 10 times more energy for me to do accounts than someone that actually naturally likes to do it. That energy drain makes me less smart over time because I can’t put my energy into the thing that will make me smarter in the thing I want to focus on.
c) Build Around Your Gift
Design your business or your career to amplify what you’re good at. I’m good at business. I’m good at nothing else but business. 35 years of my life I spent learning business and now I’m applying all that business knowledge to build a business that helps people in business. I’ve designed my life around my gift. And now I apply my business knowledge to what I’m doing today, which is why I’m now one of the biggest influencers in the world. So if I focus on my gift, I feel more confident. I’m more confident. I lean in more. And that makes me smarter over time because I learn and I grow.
Closing
Every successful person’s applied the seven principles I’ve just given you. Go and watch it again. Write them down and apply them. I hope you got some value from this. If you did, let me know in the comments. Feel free to subscribe. I found out recently that 70% of people who watch these videos haven’t subscribed. If you subscribe, it really helps us get sponsors and partners to help fund this content for free. And don’t forget, if you want more of my knowledge, it’s all in this book, What’s Your Dream? Link down below. And all the proceeds from this book I’m using to fund people’s dreams.
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