It’s never too late to succeed. It’s always too early to quit.

John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola when he was 55 years old.

Ray Kroc bought McDonald’s when he was 59 years old.

Colonel Sanders began franchising KFC at 62 years old.

Tim & Nina Zagat were 51 yr old lawyers when they wrote the 1st Zagat guide.

Charles Darwin was 50 years old before he wrote “On the Origin of Species”.

Julia Child was also 50 years olf when she wrote her first cookbook.

Henry Ford was 45 years old when he created the Model T car. 

Microfinance pioneer, Muhammad Yunus, launched the Grameen Bank at 43 years old.

Samuel L. Jackson was 43 years old before he had his first hit film, “Jungle Fever”.

It’s never too late to succeed.

It’s always too early to quit.

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

~ C.S. Lewis

The Monk Moment

The Monk Moment - Many great entrepreneurs have had a moment when they have lost everything. Monks create this situation intentionally through "Vairagya" when they give up all money and possessions. Many entrepreneurs end up in the same situation unintentionally. 

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Elon Musk lost $180M and was in debt in 2008. Seven years later, he's worth $13 billion, but he'd be ready to risk it all again. Steve Jobs lost his entire Apple fortune by 1994, betting it on NeXT and Pixar. In 1995 everything turned around, he sold NeXT to Apple, Pixar to Disney and he passed away an icon. Walt Disney mortgaged away his entire fortune in the 1950s to build Disneyland, against everyone's advice. He too went from giving up everything to becoming a legend. Each bet everything material they had on something invisible - their purpose and vision.

Monks call the state that comes after giving up everything "Moksha" which means liberation from the illusion. We're not alive until we know what we'd die for.

I'm not saying great entrepreneurs are monks, but they do have 'monk moments' when they lose everything.

Many of the greatest entrepreneurs unintentionally find themselves in this state by betting everything on their dream. Maybe you're in this place right now. It is a place of pure power. When you have nothing to lose, you have infinite potential.

That is provided you don't focus on what you've lost, but on everything you have to gain. That's when everything turns around. As Walt Disney said "I don't make movies to make money. I make money to make movies".

That's the paradox of entrepreneurs having a 'near-death' experience where they lose it all. Steve Jobs wrote:

“Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.

Almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it, and that is how it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.”

What mission is so important to you, that you'd be ready to clear out the old and make way for your new?

Instagram

18 months & 3 simple, not-so-simple steps to $1 billion...

Today, Instagram sold to Facebook for $1 billion. A week ago, when TIME asked Instagram founder, Kevin Systrom, if he would sell the company, he said “It’s not really on the top of our minds right now.” 

Kevin is 27 years old and started Instagram 18 months ago with Mike Krieger, in October 2010. The company has grown with just 4 staff, and today has just 9 in the team. With the $1 billion deal that was announced today, was Kevin just plain lucky, or was there some simple steps that he (and others who have had the same luck) have in common?

Here’s three steps he followed. They may not guarantee you exactly the same success - but they will increase your own good fortune:

1. THINK BIG FROM DAY ONE - THEN LEARN FROM OTHERS:

It was while Kevin was studying at Stanford 7 years ago that he had the idea of a photo-sharing site, from his passion for photography. That was before iPhones, and before Facebook. Step one is to cultivate your idea by learning from others. He met Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 and talked about his idea. Mark then offered him a job at Facebook, which had just launched (in hindsight, a cheaper option that the $1 billion he’s just paid to work with Kevin). Kevin turned him down but they stayed in touch. He went to intern at Odeo with Evan Williams, who sold Blogger and Jack Dorsey, who launched Twitter. This is where Kevin got to understand the power of social sharing. Kevin later said “Comparing Instagram to photography is like comparing Twitter to Microsoft Word”.

He then went on to work at Google. All in all, it was a full six years after having the idea of a photo sharing site that he worked with others leading the field: Getting paid for his own education before he launched his own start-up. As Kevin says, “I was given the opportunity to be in the middle of a ton of innovation, and meet some of the smartest people doing the coolest stuff in the world. When I finally did it [myself], it just felt so right."

Who could you (and should you) be working with today to lay your own foundation?

2. KEEP 100% FOCUSED ON WHAT PROBLEM YOU’RE SOLVING - AND FAIL FIRST:

When Kevin launched Instagram in October 2010, he explained in his first blog what problems Instagram intended to solve. He listed the top three problems users were having: 

“My mobile photos look lame.”

“It’s a pain to share to all my friends.”

“Photos take forever to upload.”

How would he know these were the problems? Just by talking to people? No, by getting it wrong the first time. In early 2010 he launched his first attempt “Burbn” as a location-based photo app, using Foursquare. It was a one-man-band, but after a year of hard work it had failed to catch on. It was, however, a failure that allowed him to learn from his users what would work, and to attract interest from like-minded people, including his future co-founder of Instagram, Mike Krieger.

By focusing on these three problems, Instagram launched in October 2010. Kevin relates the first moments of launch: “It was 12:15am, October 6th and we had been working on the app non-stop, day and night for 8 weeks. With a bit of hesitation, I clicked the button that launched “Instagram” live to the Apple app store. We figured we’d have at least 6 hours before anyone discovered the app so we could grab some shut-eye. No problem, we figured. Within a few minutes, they started pouring in... The night of sleep we were hoping for turned into a few meager hours before we rushed into the office to add capacity to the service. Now, only a couple months later, we’re happy to announce that our community consists of more than a million registered users.”

What problem are you solving, and what are you learning by failing, that is setting you up for your own overnight success?

3. CUT OUT ALL THE NOISE:

Kevin explains the difference between Instagram and Burbn: “We actually got an entire version of Burbn done as an iPhone app, but it felt cluttered, and overrun with features. It was really difficult to decide to start from scratch, but we went out on a limb, and basically cut everything in the Burbn app except for its photo, comment, and like capabilities. What remained was Instagram.”

Kevin cut out all the noise. He then launched Instagram just on the Apple App Store (It just came to Android last week) and focused on sharing on Twitter and Facebook (Three platforms that didn’t even exist when he first had the idea). That’s it: Photo, comment, like. No other platforms. No other noise. 

Simpler means sharper means easier to cut through the noise. Instagram went from one million users by Dec 2010 to 30 million users today. In 2011, Apple named Instagram the “App of the Year”. Why would Facebook buy it now for $1 billion? Because Mark already knows it will add more value than that to Facebook when it has its upcoming $100 billion IPO.

If you are already thinking big, connecting smart and focused at the problems you are solving - How could you solve them in the fewest number of steps?

A BILLION DOLLAR STORY

It obviously takes more than three simple, not-so-simple steps to get the pieces lined up and timed right for the kind of 18 month run that Kevin has had. But these three show up again and again in today’s stories of hyper-growth, and the ones I will continue to share here on Facebook and at my Fast Forward events.

As an end to this chapter of the Instagram story, here’s how Kevin relates the beginning of his photo-sharing idea. It is at the heart of his journey, as your story should be at the heart of yours:

“When I studied abroad my teacher set what I do now in motion by saying, “Give me that camera of yours.” He took my camera away and gave me a little, plastic camera. I was studying in Florence at the time and he told me that I wasn’t allowed to use my camera for the rest of the class. I had to use this plastic camera with a terrible lens. He said I was too focused on sharpness and “I feel like you’re more artsy than that.””

“He said, “I want you to use this Holga,” this plastic camera with a plastic lens that had this cult following in the ’80s and ’90. I was blown away by what it could do to photos. My photography teacher was totally right. I was too focused on being meticulous with these really beautiful, complex architectural shots. It helps to see the world through a different lens and that’s what we wanted to do with Instagram. We wanted to give everyone the same feeling of discovering the world around you through a different lens.”

It’s ironic that as Instagram hits a $1 billion value, mimicking the feel of these disposable cameras, the biggest producer of them, Kodak, has filed for bankruptcy.

Each wave that crashes is followed by another. The only question is who is already positioning themselves to surf it. Are you up for the ride?

SOLDIERS OF HUMANITY_Rx

Once a division of the Japanese army was engaged in a sham battle, and some of the officers found it necessary to make their headquarters in Gasan’s temple.

Gasan told his cook: “Let the officers have only the same simple fare we eat.”

This made the army men angry, as they were used to very deferential treatment. One came to Gasan and said: “Who do you think we are? We are soldiers, sacrificing our lives for our country. Why don’t you treat us accordingly?”

Gasan answered sternly: “Who do you think we are? We are soldiers of humanity, aiming to save all sentient beings.”

A CUP OF TEA_Rx

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”

“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

THE MOON CANNOT BE STOLEN_Rx

Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing in it to steal.

Ryokan returned and caught him. “You may have come a long way to visit me,” he told the prowler, “and you should not return empty handed. Please take my clothes as a gift.”

The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away.

Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. “Poor fellow, ” he mused, “I wish I could give him this beautiful moon.”

When You’re Surrounded By Negativity_Rx

We hear it time and time again, “stop caring about what other people think.” Well, most people agree that’s a lot easier said than done.

The world is full of opportunities to compare ourselves to others, hoping they’ll approve. When we do, we usually end up falling short of their expectations and ours. The reality is, however, that we are rarely comparing apples to apples because we only have part of the picture. We don’t see the rocky road, the unhappiness, and the trials because most people only put their best on display. And in the height of seeking approval, we are usually not in our best state.

Our day is spent doing things because everyone else is doing them, not because we think they add value to our lives. We measure ourselves against other people’s accomplishments, not purely on our individual achievements. How do we break free from caring about what other people are doing and thinking? Well, the first step is to realize that nobody cares. They just don’t.

Nobody cares about what you’re doing or not, because they too are worried about themselves and what other people think. And “others” means everyone as a group, not any one person as an individual.

When you find yourself trying to gain approval or fearful of standing out on your own, remember the strength you need is within.

1. REMEMBER THIS QUOTE WHEN OTHER PEOPLE DON’T UNDERSTAND YOU.

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly.”— Albert Einstein

2. REMEMBER THIS QUOTE WHEN PEOPLE THINK YOU’RE CRAZY FOR DOING WHAT YOU DO.

“If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that… I believe in what I do, and I’ll say it.” ? John Lennon

3. REMEMBER THIS QUOTE WHEN YOU ARE DREAMING BIG.

“So many people along the way, whatever it is you aspire to do, will tell you it can’t be done. But it all it takes is imagination. You dream. You plan. You reach.”? Michael Phelps

4. REMEMBER THIS QUOTE WHEN PEOPLE DISAGREE WITH YOUR APPROACH.

“Don’t waste your energy trying to educate or change opinions; go over, under, through, and opinions will change organically when you’re the boss. Or they won’t. Who cares? Do your thing, and don’t care if they like it.” ? Tina Fey

5. REMEMBER THIS QUOTE WHEN IT FEELS LIKE YOU ARE GOING IT ALONE.

“Believe in yourself and there will come a day when others will have no choice but to believe with you.” ? Cynthia Kersey

6. REMEMBER THIS QUOTE WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO BE LESS THAN YOU ARE.

“There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.” ? Marianne Williamson

7. AND WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, REMEMBER THIS QUOTE.

“My dear, I don’t give a damn.” ? Margaret Mitchell

Let’s face it, we can’t please everyone. It’s an impossible task to live up to the expectations of someone who will end up judging us regardless of what we do. When we allow the judgments of others to affect what we do and how we do it, nobody wins. We don’t win, and the other person certainly doesn’t win.

It’s up to us to start standing up for what we believe in because there will always be someone who will disagree with us. In fact, if people aren’t disagreeing, then we probably are being true to ourselves. It’s time we changed our focus to the people that matter in our lives. When we focus on the people we love and who love us, the other stuff seems to fade into the background. It’s when we lose sight of what’s really important that we become over-accommodating. By trying to please others so they’ll think better of us, we are telling ourselves that we aren’t good enough the way we are. Eventually, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

When we know who we are and what our priorities are in life, what other people think of us, becomes less important. We have to believe in those values, and more importantly, in ourselves.

There are a lot of “followers” in the world. They are the people that are comfortable in their routine and content with the status quo. But to live our authentic and happiest life, we must break free from the pack and live according to our values.

True success comes when we know we are being judged and then realize we don’t care. When that happens, we know we are living our best life.