Video summary
Alex Hormozi addresses the common tendency to catastrophize bad days, arguing that a difficult season does not define an entire year if one focuses on securing just one good day at a time. He suggests that maintaining momentum during challenging periods is often considered winning in itself, rather than waiting for a massive breakthrough or perfect circumstance. To illustrate this point of view, Hormozi references Bill Ackman's experience with his divorce and the loss of $4 billion from Pershing Square; despite facing what seemed like insurmountable negative events that could not be fixed overnight, Ackman adopted a tactical approach by focusing on making small daily progress rather than trying to solve the entire problem in a single day. Hormozi admits that while his mood is still influenced by circumstances such as chronic neck pain and other physical ailments, he has consciously decided to recalibrate how he measures success and happiness. On May 1st, he made a firm declaration that the rest of the year would be good, committing significant mental effort to minimizing negative factors and amplifying positive moments. He emphasizes that life is composed of these small days rather than waiting for grand events like playing on the main stage at EDC or making billions before feeling fulfilled; holding happiness hostage until something great happens prevents people from enjoying their current reality. The speaker advocates for finding "boring victories" in tiny, specific instances to make a day feel successful, noting that he used to dismiss small sources of gratitude as signs of having little going on in his life. He now seeks out moments like listening to a particular podcast or having coffee with Ila once a week and allows these good experiences to expand into great weeks and months. By actively identifying what made the day better—such as waking up pain-free for 70% of days—or simply surviving another morning without losing one's mind, individuals can chip away at larger problems until they feel materially changed over periods like thirty or ninety days. Ultimately, Hormozi frames this mindset shift not just as a way to improve mood but as essential strategy to prevent running out of steam before achieving ultimate goals. He acknowledges that while he does not strictly need to work this hard given his success, doing so makes the ride more enjoyable and ensures sustainability in the face of fear regarding becoming a burden or suffering from chronic pain. The core message is that by focusing on what can be controlled today rather than being dictated entirely by external circumstances, one can navigate complex negative situations effectively without needing life-altering events to feel content.
Read the full video transcript
You're not having a bad year. You've had
a few bad days that you're thinking
about for the rest of the year. I've
found it helpful when I'm in a bad
season, like I'm in right now, to just
focus on having a good day. A good day
and a bad season is a bite-sized
victory. String a few of those in a row,
and a bad season feels less hard. I'm
pretty sure the difference between a
happy life and an unhappy one doesn't
come down to how many good or bad days
you have, but which days you think about
over and over again. In some seasons of
life, maintaining is winning.
Couldn't have put it better myself.
Um,
this has been the this has been my my
big focus right now is um, and I'm not
the first person to say this, but just
winning the day. Um, and Bill Aman had
this uh, I heard him on a podcast
talking about this hard season where he
was getting divorced. He just lost $4
billion in Perishing Square. his
investment firm and he was not him
today. He was earlier on his career. So,
I mean, it was just the worst. And
because he had lost his money, the
divorce was for way more money because
it was based on his net worth that
didn't exist anymore. And was just a
terrible slog. And he said, one of the
difficult parts about that period is
that there was no one thing that was
like, "Oh, I can tackle this today."
Like, he's you're not going to finish
the divorce today. You're not going to
undo the $4 billion loss today. And so
it's like when you have these larger,
more complex negative things that do
scale, it's like how do you how do you
how do you navigate through that? And
for anyone who's listening right now,
it's like maybe it's the bad breakup.
Maybe it's the or maybe you're getting
divorced, right? Or maybe it's like the
business isn't working the way you want.
It's like and there's like 10 things
that you have to fix. And it's like,
well, I can't fix that change in the in
the logo until the next run. So I just
have to see this every single day.
>> And so he he had this very tactical
advice which I liked a lot, which is he
just tried to make progress and that was
it. And he said, you know, in a day you
it's almost it's almost negligible,
right? But at 30 days you're like, okay,
I moved this. And at 90 you're like,
wow, you know, this this is really this
is really materially changed um in
what's happened. Now, does this mean
that we're our mood is still being
dictated by circumstance? Yes, I'll be
honest. Yes, it does. But I think I
think many of us have this ideal. We'd
love to be able to great be in a great
mood with in the absence of things to be
in a great mood about. But sometimes
progress is the W. Like maintaining in
some seasons is winning. And I've had to
tell myself that also that we can have
these different like on the on business
factor. I'm murdering it. I'm crushing
there. But like I had I tore my quad
this year uh which sucked. I had uh yeah
painful. Um I have a a neck thing that's
just been bugging the hell out of me.
Right. So it's like and I have two great
fears in life. One is that I lose my
mind which is really just more that I'll
be a burden to everybody else. I won't
know cuz my mind will be lost, right?
Um, and the other is chronic pain. Those
are like my two great fears in life
because chronic pain is really tough.
Like the first thing you think about
when you open your eyes in the morning
is pain. And it's like [ __ ] It's like
and now I have to be in a good mood,
right? Because I demand this of myself.
And so, um, when in in navigating those
those scenarios, um, just trying to chip
away and also to take the reverse of I
had this one great podcast today. I'm
going to make that thing the thing
that's making this a great day. And then
if I can make that great day, then maybe
it could be a great week. And then
trying to expand those basically like
let those good moments eat up the
season. And I made a conscious decision
on May 1st. And I think I did I send you
the the screenshot of my HRV.
>> Yes.
>> So I it was May 1st. I was like,
"Fuck this." I was like, I told I was
like, "I have decreed that the rest of
the year will be good." And so I'm
putting so much mental effort into this,
which is why this is so timely from from
the from us talking about it. Um, in
actively trying to minimize all the down
things and super super focus on those
moments and be like, "Cool. I had that
good moment. That's my day. Days made."
And I'm trying to even say that more
>> like, "Oh, this podcast made my day.
This podcast made my week." Now, I used
to think, "Oh, this made my week." When
someone would say something small, I'd
be like, "That's what made your week.
Like you must not have a lot going on.
>> So true,
>> right? Like ment like like my own judge
judge machine, right?
>> That's lame.
>> Yeah, exactly.
>> Stupid thing. Oh my god. How feeble, how
small is your life that something so
unimpressive is a source of gratitude to
you for a week or
>> and yet and yet
>> yeah,
>> your life is made up of small days like
this.
>> That is what life is. And if your
expectation of life is that it's going
to be, well, until I play the main stage
at EDC, until I make the billion
dollars, until I get married to the love
of my life, until I get these things,
you're just holding your happiness
hostage, until something great happens,
and what if, again, what we said before,
what if something small could be
something great?
>> Yeah.
And it's been and it exists in the
specific
those like the tiny moments and that
Yeah. So that's that's been
>> boring victories, dudes. Boring boring
victories. Um
>> but but making trying to make it
basically I've had to recalibrate my
entire scale to how little of a thing
can happen that makes my day, how little
of a thing can happen that makes my
week, how little of a thing can make can
make my month. And like how crazy would
it be if a year from now I say 2025 was
a great year. You know I woke up
painfree
for for probably like 70% of my days.
That was a great year.
>> Like I got to have coffee with Ila in
the morning once a week and that that
filled me up for the whole week. Like if
I can and I want to I I'm this I'm
putting so anyone who's listening to
this like I'm putting a huge amount of
my discretionary effort into this
because it's my belief that right now
what will what will prevent me from
achieving my ultimate goals cuz that
that [ __ ] is not gone. Um
um the thing that will achieve that will
stop me from achieving my ultimate goals
is um running out of steam because and
and this may not be real for some people
but like I don't need to do this. like I
don't need to work this hard. Um, and so
I have to
make or I'd like to I'd prefer to make
the ride more enjoyable.
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