Yan Katcharovski Insists – The Key To Success Is To Follow These Basic Principles

The Most Important Success Lessons From Ultra Successful Investors And Entrepreneurs

“The Key To Success Is To Learn These Basic Principles” – Yan Katcharovski

Growing up, it was drilled into me that you’re never too old to learn something new and to take away a new-found knowledge from every interaction you have. Everyone has something to teach if only you pay attention. 

Throughout life, I’ve taken the time to stop and listen to what the people around me have to say, and have learned many things from them that have followed me through my life.

I fully believe that my success comes partly from my ability to listen and learn.

With that in mind, I’ve been lucky enough to spend some time working with an ultra-successful investors and entrepreneurs, and am grateful to have been able to take many things away from our time spent together.

These lessons have become a sort of mantra.

One that I use to remind myself of all I need to become successful as well. 

These are the most important lessons I’ve learned working with an ultra-successful investor.

You can’t control the success of outputs in life, only the inputs

This is one of those life tips that is true across all aspects of your life. You can’t control outside forces. You can only control what you do or what you put out there. 

As much as we wish we could control all aspects of life and business, we simply can’t. And so, we must learn to let go of that desire for control. If we spend too much time worrying about the outputs, there will be no time to celebrate the successes or manifest the inputs that will lead to those successes.

Once we can let go of those stressors and worries that hold us back, we will find that the path to success is a straight, paved road reaching out in front of us. It will no longer be the bumpy, winding road, filled with downed trees and other obstacles that we once saw it to be.

So when you find yourself worrying about the outputs, stop. Use that energy to bring about the inputs that will lead to your success. Don’t let the outputs that you cannot control affect your emotional and mental state. 

Focus on the small decisions

How many decisions do you make in a day? Do you know? Another thing I’ve learned from working with an ultra-successful investor is that where you are now and where you end up in life consists of those minute-by-minute daily decisions that you make every single day. 

Let’s say you make 10 decisions a day. If you do that every single day, at the end of the year, you’ve made 3650 decisions. If you continue on that path, by the time 10 years have passed, you’ve made over 36,000 decisions.

So how have those decisions affected your life and your business? When you wake up in the morning, what decisions are you going to make? Will you spend three hours sitting on the couch, scrolling social media and slacking off? Or will you get out of bed, get yourself a coffee, and take that extra initiative to complete the task you have waiting for you? This simple decision could mean the difference between success and failure. 

Don’t focus on the faraway outcomes that may never even come to fruition. Instead, use that energy to focus and pay attention to those day-to-day, minute-by-minute decisions that you’re making. Prioritize them. Cherish and value those seemingly small decisions and actions. They are what will lead you to success. Not the grandiose, years-in-the-future vision you have for your business. 

When you find your “why,” that’s when you’ll truly begin to see success. 

Be an eternal optimist

Yes, it sounds cheesy, but it’s the truth. When you take a step back from the things that might drag you down, emotionally and mentally, you give yourself the ability to truly see the opportunities that surround you in every single scenario and interaction in your daily life.

When you’re trying to find success, there’s simply no point in being pessimistic about things that happen or don’t go your way. That will only serve to bring down your mental and emotional health. Plus, being an optimist affords you the ability to find solutions to problems that may crop up during very difficult times in life and business.

However, it’s difficult to “turn that frown upside down,” as they say when one’s confidence isn’t at its highest. If you take time daily to practice confidence boosters, before you know it, that pessimistic attitude will be a thing of the past. 

Read More: The New Real Estate Model Helping Investors Time The Markets

About Yan Katcharovski

Yan Katcharovski (@yankatch) is a venture capitalist, serial entrepreneur, tech geek and marketing visionary. He is a partner at Virtus Ventures, a Toronto-based venture-capital firm. He writes about startups, technology, marketing, psychology and entrepreneurship.