 It's no longer news that I love books. Everyone who follows this channel knows that by now. What many may not know is that biographies are by far my favourite books and this is because reading the stories of how some of the most successful people in the world achieved what they achieved is by far the best way to get inspiration that can propel you to achieve greatness in life. In today's video I'll be sharing with you the top 10 lessons I learned from reading biographies of some of the most successful people in the world. If you're new here, consider subscribing so you won't miss other exciting videos like this. 1. Goalposts make soccer matches interesting About 12 years ago, when I announced to my family that I was not going to continue with schooling, my elder brother invited me to his house and asked me an unexpected question. Okay, what do you want to do with your life? My answer was straight forward. I want to build a company and teach Africans how to do the same. That simple answer is what my entire life has concentrated on over the last 12 years. The second great lesson I've learned from studying the lives of the most successful people is that every single individual who achieved great success were not in doubt regarding where they were going in life. As a little boy, Steve Jobs was asked by his angry parents, what do you want to do with your life? The 15-year-old Jobs answered, I want to compete with IBM. That's what Steve did with his entire life. Can you define your life in a single sentence? Do you, in specific terms, know precisely where your life is heading? Just imagine a soccer match without goal posts. What are the players aiming at and how can such a match be interesting? If your life doesn't have specific goal posts, your life will be boring and will end nowhere. 2. Geniuses aren't that smart I have seen this again and again from my personal life and studying the lives of the most successful people in the world. Geniuses are not as smart as most people assume. After reading biographies and stories of tens of successful people and seeing how I achieved everything I've achieved in life, I can confidently tell you that most people who become great successes are not extraordinary and you don't have to be extraordinary either. This is what happens. Most successful people simply hang in there. There's no complex formula to achieving success in life. It's mostly about hanging in there. Do you want to build a successful company? All you have to do is to be willing to start and never look back. Do you want to be a successful scientist? All you have to do is to have a sleeping mat in the laboratory. It's simple but not easy. Just hang in there and never look back. Your luck will come and you'll become successful. 3. Success requires arrogance I came from an impoverished family and grew up in a village where nobody ever made $10,000 a year. So when I told people I wanted to build a successful company and make millions, they believed that I was arrogant and to be honest with you, I was. After studying the lives of most successful people, I can tell you that arrogance is one of the ingredients of success because if you're not arrogant, you wouldn't think you can do the impossible. Most things are often called impossible until they are done. Flying in the sky was believed to be impossible. It took some crazy arrogant men to believe they could figure it out. Transmitting human voice or images from one location to another was also found to be impossible. The guys who dared to figure it out were arrogant or else they wouldn't try. Often when you look at your life circumstances, you'll see that what you want to achieve is impossible and that's the reason you need some dose of arrogance to believe that you can do the impossible. 4. Life starts when you know what you can die for Martin Luther King, Jr. was a coward boy or let's call him a shy boy to give him some honor. He didn't like to be what he ended up becoming. Many times he rejected the possibility of him leading the civil rights movement until the day he became convinced he was born for the purpose of that movement. Mark Twain said, The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. Great people in the past, people like Napoleon Bonaparte, often made themselves believe they were descendants of gods or something like that. This belief made them arrogant and gave them faith in themselves. You don't have to go to such extremes, but you have to figure out your reason for existence because if you don't, your life would be boring. After Martin Luther King, Jr. was convinced that his life's purpose was to fight for African-American rights, death or difficulties no longer have the power to stop him. Similar things happen to most people who succeed in life. They just get to a point where their goals seems more important than their lives. 5. Seek to know what no one does Charles T. Munger said, In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn't read all the time, none. Zero. Munger is a billionaire entrepreneur, and if you don't take his words seriously, you won't take mine, so let me repeat what he said. In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn't read all the time, none. Zero. Six. You must get used to falling. The right words for success is failure outcome. Because success is nothing but the outcome of massive failures. I have studied the lives of the most successful people in the world, and I can tell you something. They failed more than they succeeded. I'm 33 at the time of making this video, and I can tell you that only a few 33-year-olds have gone through half of the difficulties that I've been through in my life, and that's probably the reason why only a few people of my age have the kind of success that I have. You have to get used to trying new things. This will often mean you'll make mistakes and sometimes fail, but as long as you keep on trying, you'll win. Seven. Just try. John F. Kennedy said, A single person can make the difference, and all of us should try. People who become successful don't necessarily have the assurance that they will become successful. Yes, I said earlier that these people believe in themselves. Don't also forget that I said that they are often arrogant. While I believed strongly that I would build a company of my own when I started nearly 12 years ago, I had no certainty and nobody ever had any certainty. The difference between those who achieve greatness and the rest of the world is that successful people just try and keep on trying. They understand the risk and dangers. They know they could have crashed and destroyed their lives, yet they decided to try. Eight. Think like messiah. There are two kinds of people in the world, those who think they are victims and those who think they are messiahs. Most people I know think like victims. They think life happens to them. They think they have zero control. They think they are just one irrelevant, powerless object in the changing world. Successful people think the opposite of this. They think they are the messiah. They think they are capable of solving some of the world's problems. They think they can influence the world and make change happen. Nine. Learn to use people. Okay, I simply wanted to say learn to live and work with people. Almost every successful person I studied knows how to get what they want from other humans. This is very important because you won't go far except other humans like you and are willing to make sacrifices for you. Ten. Stop looking for a success formula. The other day I talked about Albert Einstein and Elon Musk, and right there in the comment section someone pointed out a significant mindset of Einstein which is directly opposite of what Musk believes. Well, there's no specific formula for greatness. There are only lessons, and that's what this video is all about. If you compare the lives of Bill Gates to that of Steve Jobs, you'll see some extreme opposites even though they are both successful entrepreneurs. If you compare the lives of Winston Churchill to that of Abraham Lincoln, you'll notice some contradictions, even though they were both successful politicians. There is more than one road that leads to the market, and knowing this will make you choose what you learn from individuals. These are the summary of what I've shared with you so far. Goal posts are what make a soccer match interesting. If your life doesn't have specific goals, it will be boring. Geniuses aren't that smart. They just keep on trying. Success requires some arrogance. You have to believe that you can do the impossible. Life starts when you know what you can die for. You must know why you're living, to be able to remain dedicated to your life's goals. Get used to failing. It's inevitable. Seek to know what no one does. Learn always. Just try, even if you fail. Think like a messiah. Don't think like a victim. Learn to use people. You must know how to make other people want to help you. Stop looking for a specific formula to success. Just learn. We love you.