This episode is a wild card episode. Hiten and Steli freestyle the discussion to get to a few core truths that have guided their path to success. The idea for today’s episode was sparked by a comment made by Hiten about people NOT wanting to hear the real answers. This is EXACTLY what you will get from Steli and Hiten in today’s episode. Tune-in as Steli and Hiten share the hard truths of what it takes to be successful and the misgivings of looking for that shortcut.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:05 – Today is a wild episode—Hiten does not know what it will come of it and the last time Steli did something like this the podcast was born

01:11 – Steli and Hiten freestyle every podcast they do, meaning they spend just a few minutes planning the episode

01:21 – During one of their brainstorming sessions, Hiten brought up the fact that people don’t want to hear the real answers

01:43 – Steli does a lot of public speaking and travelling

02:28 – Other speakers would ask Steli how to give good talks

03:06 – Steli says speakers would look at one’s style more than the substance of the speech itself

03:26 – Steli says one who can deliver amazing content and give great speeches is one who has experienced and lived a lot of life

04:09 – You have to put in the work and be out in the world doing things

04:47 – Steli and Hiten do not have to make scripts because they have a lot of experience

05:19 – Steli says you have to put a lot into life to get a lot out of it

06:04 – Hiten agrees with Steli but, on the other hand, you do not need a lot of experience to share content that will be compelling to someone else

06:37 – You just need to think harder about your own experience and how to share it in a compelling and valuable way

07:04 – In this case, the work is knowing how to communicate and share your experience in a way that people can relate to

07:51 – Hiten says it takes effort to figure something out

08:23 – Aside from doing the work, you must also take a leap of faith that it is worth doing

08:33 – Hiten says it is just as hard now as it was when he first started, it is about doing the work and feeling the pain that comes with it

09:24 – Steli says everyone has a story to share, but you need to do the unglamourous work involved in sharing that story

09:53 – People are focused on the hack—getting results as fast as they can

10:29 – Steli says there is no short-cut worth taking

11:16 – People tend to know what they ought to do, but because it’s not easy or they don’t want to do it, they look for other ways

12:11 – Steli says it is insulting that there are people who think that they just have to outsmart the smart people; being smart is not enough, you have to outwork the smart people, too

13:04 – Nothing meaningful is going to get done unless you put in the effort

13:16 – DO THE WORK

3 Key Points:

There are no shortcuts to success—you need to DO the work.

To create something meaningful requires a significant amount of effort.

Think about how you can share your experience in a compelling and meaningful way to your audience.

Steli Efti:

Hey, everybody, this is Steli Efti.

Hiten Shah:

This is Hiten Shah, and today on the Startup Chat, Steli decided we're going to  do a wild episode. The last time he decided something like this we ended up  with a whole podcast. The whole thing started that way.

Steli Efti:

That is kind of true.

Hiten Shah:

I am dying. For the last 30 seconds I've been like, "All right, what's this  going to be about? All right, what's this going to be about?" Steli, what's up?  Let's go.

Steli Efti:

Here's the deal, right? This is going to be like a ranty type of an  episode. We just had an interaction, we just talked for, like ... Just kind of  a behind of the scenes for everybody that's listening, out of the hour every week that we talk and we're trying to record three ...