 A few months ago, I read the biography of Albert Einstein and one of the biggest takeaway for me after studying Einstein's life is that he was a curious student of history. By this, I mean that he took time to study the lives and works of great scientists that have gone before him. This is a simple strategy for everyone. Study successful people in whatever field you want to play in and learn from them. Today, I want to share with you some of the lessons I learned from nine most successful entrepreneurs of the 20th century. These successful entrepreneurs are not considered successful in a particular order. Instead, I use a common assumption which is that if you are the most famous or wealthy, I assume that you are successful. This may not be entirely right but it is the best method I have now. Plus, I might have learned some of these lessons earlier from other sources but getting these people to remind all of us is a good thing. If you are new here, don't forget to subscribe to our channel. 1. Walt Disney The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. When I started in the business world in the year 2008, almost everything was against me. The weather wasn't clear and the climate wasn't right but I knew that there might never be a perfect time. Today, I see a lot of people waiting for the ideal time to start pursuing their dreams. Their result is predictable. They will wait, wait and wait till when it's apparent that they have lost the time. You can't just wait. You can't. Do you have a dream? No matter how small, start running after it. You'll be surprised at how far you will go while other people are still waiting. 2. Sam Walton High expectations are the key to everything. Tony Robbins often says, increase your standard, which means that you should expect more from yourself. Increase what you think is possible or think bigger. Most people in the world expect much from others and little from themselves. The challenge with this is that you don't have any power over what other people do and so expecting them to be kind or helpful is like expecting the rain to fall. The reason why people with high expectations achieve is that if you have high expectations you will attempt more things, try difficult things and not give up with a few failures and as a result, you are much likely to succeed than people with low expectations. 3. Richard Branson You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing and by falling over. I know a friend who is studying law in a Nigerian university and I got to find out from him that after 3 years of studying law his school has never deemed it fit that they should be at the law court one single time. To me, it doesn't matter how many years anyone spends inside a classroom. You don't learn anything until you get out and do stuff. While I recommend books and challenge people to read I don't think anyone can be qualified or educated in any field only by reading or sitting down in a classroom. The real education is on the street. The real education is in doing in making mistakes in failing. 4. Mary Kay Ash A mediocre idea that generates enthusiasm will go further than a great idea that inspires no one. If you want to be an entrepreneur, a politician or a salesman or anything meaningful in life you have to know how to make other people excited about your vision because people won't support you except they can get some excited about your vision as much as you get excited about it. 5. Michael Dell Ideas are a commodity. Execution of them is not. If you want to know the number of good business ideas we have in the world count the numbers of human beings. I'm here to meet a single adult who doesn't have a business idea but only very few people ever successfully execute their ideas to make money what is going on here so it happens that ideas is just about 1% to 5% of what you need to build a successful business after the idea then you think about building a team raising capital, understanding the market having the right offer, the right price and the right time all these are complex and except you are willing to learn from your mistakes you won't go more than a mile away from your idea Henry Ford said anyone who stops learning is old whether at 20 or 80 anyone who keeps learning stays young the greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young 6. Larry Ellison Great achievers are driven not so much by the pursuit of success but by the fear of failure the reason why I wanted to be rich was that I was born in unspeakable poverty I wasn't driven by fast cars or mansions my motivation wasn't the fame but the fear of having my children go through what I went through while growing up if you want to change your life let the fear of poverty drive you 7. Steve Jobs it's rare that you see an artist in his 30s or 40s able to really contribute something amazing people often say that Colonel Sanders became a millionaire at an old age that is possible but I don't think you should wait till you are 60 to stop pursuing your dreams the truth is that the earlier the better if you are in your 20s as you watch this video now is the right time to start running if you are in your 40s or 50s stop making those silly excuses we can encourage ourselves by saying age is a mere number but we all know that's not true 8. Bill Gates life is not fair get used to it ugly things happen to all of us some know how to move on fast while most people look for who to blame the truth is that if at any point in time you want to blame someone for your woes you will always find someone to blame but that won't help you in any way 9. Oprah Winfrey when there is no struggle there is no strength we all run away from difficulties because what we see is pain but show me the strongest people in the world and I'll prove to you that there are people who have gone through more difficulties than others our minds is like our muscles if we push our muscles through pains it becomes stronger if we dare and do difficult things our minds become stronger here's the summary of this video the way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing high expectations are the key to everything you don't learn to walk by following rules you learn by doing and by falling over a mediocre idea that generates enthusiasm will go further than a great idea that inspires no one ideas are a commodity great achievers are driven not so much by the pursuit of success but by the fear of failure it's rare that you see an artist in his 30s or 40s able to really contribute something amazing life is not fair care is to it when there is no struggle there is no strength thanks for watching we love you