target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_67dcbb9d-ce2c-5960-b13f-60165b704924">3. Lee Dye, “You Don't Have to Be Smart to Be Rich,” ABCNews, May 16, 2007.
4 4. Shana Lebowitz, “Why Valedictorians Rarely Become Rich and Famous – and the Average Millionaire's College GPA,” Business Insider (May 29, 2017), www.businessinsider.com/why-high-school-valedictorians-dont-become-really-successful-2017-5.
5 5. Etienne Strebel, “Is Self‐Esteem the Key to Success?” Swiss Info (October 31, 2011), www.swissinfo.ch/eng/sci-tech/is-self-esteem-the-key-to-success-/31463808.
6 6. Mybudget360, “Comparing the Inflated Cost of Living Today from 1950 to 2014: How Declining Purchasing Power Has Hurt the Middle Class Since 1950,” My Budget 360 (February 2014), www.mybudget360.com/cost-of-living-2014-inflation-1950-vs-2014-data-housing-cars-college/.
7 7. Mark J. Perry, “Only 52 US Companies Have Been on the Fortune 500 Since 1955, Thanks to the Creative Destruction that Fuels Economic Prosperity” AEI (May 22, 2019), www.aei.org/carpe-diem/only-52-us-companies-have-been-on-the-fortune-500-since-1955-thanks-to-the-creative-destruction-that-fuels-economic-prosperity/#:∼:text=In%20other%20words%2C%20only%2010.4,the%20top%20Fortune%20500%20companies%20(.
8 8. Ana Swanson, “A Single Chart Everybody Needs to Look at Before Trump's Big Fight over Bringing Back American Jobs,” Washington Post (November 28, 2016), www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/11/28/theres-a-big-reason-trump-might-not-be-able-to-keep-his-promise-on-jobs/.
9 9. Matthew Griffin, “1.2 Million Jobs to Vanish as Foxconn Unveils Plans for Fully Autonomous Factories,” Fanatical Futurist (January 7, 2017), www.fanaticalfuturist.com/2017/01/1-2-million-jobs-to-vanish-as-foxconn-unveils-plans-for-fully-autonomous-factories/.
10 10. Becky Peterson, “Travis Kalanick. Lasted in His Role for 6.5 Years – Five Times Longer than the Average Uber employee,” Business Insider (August 20, 2017), www.businessinsider.com/employee-retention-rate-top-tech-companies-2017-8.
11 11. Tom Maloney and Tom Metcalf, “Jeff Bezos Adds $13.2 Billion to His Fortune in Just Minutes,” Bloomberg (January 30, 2020), www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-30/bezos-adds-13-2-billion-to-fortune-in-minutes-with-amazon-surge.
12 12. Avishai Bitton, “7 Entrepreneurs Who Went from Food Stamps to Billionaires,” Shockpedia (November 12, 2014), www.shockpedia.com/7-entrepreneurs-went-food-stamps-billionaires/.
13 13. Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (New York: Random House, 2006), 7.
14 14. Eric Zorn, “Without Failure, Jordan Would Be False Idol,” Chicago Tribune (May 19, 1997).
15 15. Ben Frederick, “Michael Jordan: 10 quotes from His Airness, the King,” Christian Science Monitor (February 19, 201).
16 16. Mark Murphy, “Neuroscience Explains Why You Need to Write Down Your Goals If You Actually Want to Achieve Them,” Forbes (April 15, 2018).
17 17. Judy Wearing, Edison's Concrete Piano: Flying Tanks, Six‐Nippled Sheep (New York: ECW Press, 2009), 164.
18 18. Zig Ziglar, Inspiration 365: Zig Ziglar's Favorite Quotes (Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2013), 149.
19 19. “Warm Thanks: Gratitude Can Win You New Friends,” Science News (August 28, 2014).
1.5 The Future Proofing You Experiment
Potential is a priceless treasure, like gold. All of us have gold hidden within, but we have to dig to get it out.
—Joyce Meyer, A Leader in the Making
ONE OF THE GREAT JOYS of writing a book is hearing from you, the readers. I wrote my first book, Disrupt You!, as a way of helping others to transform their lives. I wanted to break down the business world in a way that made success accessible to all. Disrupt You! flipped the message of most books: in order to change the world, you first must learn to change yourself. The book connected with readers around the globe (and is currently published in 10 languages).
I was humbled and touched by the response. I received emails from thousands of readers. Readers from dozens of countries shared stories with me of how they applied the lessons in Disrupt You! to their lives and businesses. I heard from a dentist in Pakistan who went from not being able to support his wife and children to having one of the most successful practices in Islamabad. I heard from intrapreneurs who gained the courage to change old companies from within and from single moms building side hustles that gave them the freedom to quit their day jobs. One young reader, still in his early twenties, even drove hundreds of miles to see me speak and thank me. He wanted to tell me that in just two years of applying what he learned in Disrupt You!, he was able to buy his parents and grandparents their own homes. As gratifying as these responses were, the one note that haunted me was from another young man who loved the book, but didn't believe he could make it happen.
At twenty‐something years old, he had already given up on his goals. He hated his dead‐end job and was drowning in credit card debt. He couldn't envision a future beyond living paycheck to paycheck. He felt trapped and defeated. He didn't think success was possible. I read and reread his email, trying to muster the proper response. By failing to prove to him that success was possible for everyone, I had failed him.
What would it take, I wondered, to convince a millennial – or anyone – that they could achieve financial success? He had written me, I surmised, as a cry for help. His pain gnawed at me and kept me up until dawn. Could I take individuals with very little work experience and no family background in business and mentor them into becoming a self‐made millionaire? How long would that take? Could it be achieved in a year? Would they learn the skills to be future proof for life?
This is the story of how I decided to challenge myself and