Why school is bad for you

I sat in a school meeting last week, listening to the principal and chairman defend how subjects and exams are structured.

The entire time, alarm bells were going off in my head. I couldn't help but draw a correlation between school and real life—a life that school is supposed to prepare you for.

The single biggest mistake of my career, and the reason I don't yet drive a Lamborghini, is that I've tried to do too many things too often. I seem to have a never ending flow of ideas leading me to try one thing after the next.

Turns out unless you're Charlie Munger or Elon Musk, this is a bad idea.

Hormozi addresses this brilliantly in the video below:

For context, in the video he talks about focusing on one thing, one vehicle and doing that until you're successful.

There are countless examples of people on the Forbes billionaires list who have spent 40 years focusing on one industry. They knocked it out of the park and never have to worry about money again.

But what about us mere mortals? Many of us are trying to run four different companies, each selling a dozen diverse products that don't relate to each other. We struggle to find time for it all and live hand to mouth each month.

I've been in that boat for a long time, and I'm still in it.

Back to the school meeting last week. I sat there, listening to them talk about all the subjects and it dawned on me, that the behaviour at school is really bad for you. I mean sure, you do need to learn all those things, but the way they divide your day into different subjects and you're context switching every 45 mins really isn't ideal, but it sets you up for life, thinking that the more you do the better.

Starting in school we learn to admire those who can have 8 subjects and get straight A's. Sure, there are a handful of these people out there who seem to juggle multiple large endeavours and score home runs on each of them, think Elon Musk.

But realistically, for the rest of us, we're not it.

So I've resolved to wipe a bunch of things off my desk. Some projects that I've worked hard on, and invested a lot of money in I'm turning off. Rocking One is one of those things. The losses there are immense, but I don't think that's the boat taking me to my Lamborghini.

Rather, I'm looking through all the weird and wonderful things we sell and give to clients, and I'm picking a small handful of those things, that relate to each other and we're going to focus on that.

It's a lesson I'm trying to teach my boys. Hopefully, in the next five years, I can set a solid example by focusing on just one thing until it's wildly successful.