We have a mental "thermostat" for success. When we exceed what we subconsciously believe we're worth, we slow down or self-sabotage. To break through plateaus, you must consciously reprogram your mind to treat that previous peak achievement as your new minimum standard of performance.

High-achievers often subconsciously avoid giving their absolute all to a project. This creates a built-in excuse if it fails ("I didn't really try my hardest"). This self-protection mechanism becomes a form of self-rejection, preventing you from reaching your true potential.

The primary threat to a bootstrapped company is not external competition but internal struggle. Burnout, self-doubt, and loss of motivation kill more startups than any market force. Protecting your mental health is a critical business function, not a luxury.

Success requires identifying your personal failure modes (e.g., fear of shipping, chasing novelty). An unacknowledged weakness is a blind spot that leads to self-sabotage. Progress comes from turning these blind spots into known weaknesses you can build systems to overcome.

The key differentiator for top performers is that their mind overrules their feelings. Feelings suggest quitting, offer excuses, and lead to overthinking. A strong mind makes a decision and executes, driving resilience and action despite emotional resistance or doubt.

Over four decades, Dell has seen countless entrepreneurs fail. He argues their downfall isn't typically due to external competition but from their own fatal mistakes, poor choices, and a failure to deeply understand what's happening in their own business.

The vast majority of people abandon new initiatives—podcasts, courses, newsletters—within months. By maintaining consistency long after the initial excitement fades, you gain a significant competitive advantage over more talented but less persistent peers. Your superpower is endurance.

Negreanu observed peers who would build a large bankroll, then blow it all. He realized it was subconscious self-sabotage. Having achieved their goal of "making money," they lacked a deeper purpose and would destroy their success to give themselves a new mission: rebuild.

The vast majority of people and businesses fail because they break emotionally under the relentless pressure of failure. The key to success is not brilliance but emotional resilience. The winner is often the one who can simply stand to iterate on failure longer than anyone else.