Recently read "The Third Door" by
@AlexBanayan. It's a must-read book especially for people in their early twenties.

I highlighted a lot of points and because I loved it so much, I decided to type it out and make it into a thread (~35 pts)

1/ "Life, Business, Success...it's just like a nightclub

There are always three ways in --

First door: Main entrance; where 99% of people wait around hoping to get in.

Second door: VIP entrance for billionaires and celebs and people born into it."

2/ "Third door - The entrance where you have to jump out of the line, run down the alley, bang on the door a hundred times, crack open a window and sneak through a kitchen"

NOTE - There's a lot more to the book and these are just some points I liked and was able to condense into a tweet. This thread is to convince you that the book is worth it and also a good summary in case you have already read it.

3/ "The Spielberg Game:

1. Jump off the tour bus.
2. Find an inside man. {most important step}
3. Ask for his or her help to bring you in"

4/ @timferris from his book '4hr workweek'

"The opposite of love is indifference, and the opposite of happiness is -- here's the clincher -- boredom.

Excitement is the more practical synonym for happiness, and it is precisely what you should strive to chase. It is a cure-all"

5/ @qilu, president of online services at Microsoft on luck:

"Luck is like a bus, If you miss one, there's always the next one. But if you're not prepared, you won't be able to jump on."

6/ Sugar Ray Leonard on chasing dreams

"You may have the heart - you keep fighting but your mind is saying, 'Man forget this. I don't need this' The head and the heart aren't together, but they have to go together. It all has to connect."

7/ "You may have a desire, a wish, a dream -- but it's got to be more than that -- you've got to want it to the point that it hurts. Most people never reach that point. They never tap into what I call the hidden reservoir, your hidden reserve of strength"

8/ Alex asked Elliot Bisnow ( @bis)-- "What was the tipping point in your career that allowed you to build so much momentum?"

Elliot's answer -- "There is no tipping point, It's all just little steps"

9/ Elliot's five ground rules for life
1) Never use your phone in a meeting, not even for notes. Always carry a pen.
2) Act like you belong. Walk into a room like you've been there before. Don't gawk over celebs. Fans ask for pictures. Peer shake hands.
3) Mystery makes history

4) If you break my trust, you're finished. Never, ever go back on your word. If I tell you something in confidence, you need to be a vault. This goes for your relationship with everyone.
5) Adventures only happen to the adventurous.

11/ "Everybody has experiences in their lives, Some choose to make them into stories"

"When it's in front of you, make your move"

"The best cure for nervousness is immediate action"

"Bite off more than you can chew. You can figure out how to chew later"

12/ "You have to make a calculated judgment that the amount of money you are going to put in is either going to pay off way bigger in the long term or enough in the short term to offset your costs. Aside from the money you live on, the rest is your money to play the game."

13/ "When I was younger, a group of thirty-year-old entrepreneurs took me under their wing and did the same for me. (helped her out) This is how the world works. It's the circle of life."

(Thanks @nikhiljois for doing the same w me)

14/ Advice from Tony Hsieh (founder of Zappos) on goals:

"Most people never take the time to ask themselves why they're doing what they're doing"

"Choosing the right tactics becomes easy once you know your end goal"

15/ "The truth is never black and white. It's gray. It's all gray. If you want the whole story, you have to dig deeper. You can't rely on headlines or tweets. Gray doesn't fit in 140 characters"

16/ Alex on learning -- "I was having so much fun reading I barely noticed the hours pass. Never before had I felt like this about learning. In college, I had all these tests & assignments, and reading felt like taking medicine.

Now it was like drinking wine."

17/ Dean Kamen, founder of Segway coined a term called 'frog kissing'

Think of a pond full of frogs. Each frog represents a different way to solve your problem. Kamen tells his engineers if they keep kissing frogs, eventually one will turn into a prince.

18/ Another one from Kamen -- "Instead of getting frustrated by repeating the same old problem, reframe the question in a new way that is amenable to a different kind of solution."

19/ Larry King's advice on how to interview people:

"Sometimes when people are starting out and feel they don't know how to interview, they look to the people they admire and they see how they interview and copy that. That's the biggest mistake you can make.

You're focused on what we're doing and not why

Why is because these are the styles that make us most comfortable in our seats.

We are the most comfortable in our seats, our guests are the most comfortable in their seats and that's what makes the best interviews."

21/ Richard Saul Wurman, founder of @TEDTalks giving his wisdom --

"You want to know the secret to changing the world? Stop trying to change it. Do great work and let your work change the world

"How does one become successful? You have to want to do it very very badly."

"You won't get anywhere significant in your life until you come to the epiphany that you know nothing. You're still too cocky. You think you can learn anything. You think you can speed up the process"

Two mantras "1) If you don't ask you don't get. 2) Most things don't work out"

23/ @billgates on sales: "1st step in a sales meeting is having to blast through skepticism, the best way to do that is by overwhelming people with your expertise."

Gates would talk fast and dive immediately into details - it became undeniably clear that he wasn't just some kid.

24/ Gates bet it would be better to take less money from IBM than to squeeze it all it was worth. He wanted to be paid in something more valuable than cash: strategic positioning.

25/ "It's better to make a fair deal today that sets you up for more deals down the road than a great deal that doesn't set you up for anything."

Takeaway - choose long-term positioning over short-term profits.

26/ Gates on negotiation: "The best negotiating tactic is to build a genuine, trusting relationship. If you're an unknown entrepreneur and the person you're dealing with isn't invested in you, why would he or she even do business with you?

But on the other hand, if the person is your mentor or friend, you might not even need to negotiate.

27/ "Life will keep hitting you over the head with the same lessons until you listen."

"People don't want to do small shit. You need to think bigger and think differently. Don't 'I wonder' through life. Just make it happen"

28/ @pitbull on challenges:"A true hustler is always looking for the next one, It's like playing a video game-- you beat the first level, now you got to beat the second level, now beat the third level. Once you beat the game, you're like "Whoa, where's the next game? Where it at?"

29/ Pitbull's key to so continued success is about always staying an intern. It's about humbling yourself enough to learn, even when you're at the top of your game. It's about knowing that the moment you get comfortable being an executive is the moment you begin to fail.

30/ Maya Angelou on writing "Easy reading is damn hard writing. It's just as true other way round; easy writing is damn hard reading. Approach writing, with admiration for yourself, & for those who did it before you. Become as familiar with your craft as it is possible to become"

31/ "Try to get out of the box. Find all the wisdom that you can. Find Confucius; read Aristotle; look at MLK. Read and say, 'Oh these are human beings just like me. Okay this may not work for me, but I think I can use 1 portion of this'

Don't narrow your life down. Go to work"

32/ @jessicaalba on changing systems

"If you try to do it as a lone wolf, if you're angry and fighting the system the whole time, no one is going to be around you because you're always going to be mad.

But if you run the race with grace, dignity & integrity, it makes it a lot easier to get to the finish line"

33/ Alba on hiring: "I don't care where you got your degree. I care about how you solve problems. I care about how you take on challenges. how do you create new ways of doing things? It's about having that hustle, that drive. That's everything when it comes to the best people"

34/ @QuincyDJones on mistakes: "You have to cherish your mistakes. You cant get an A if you are afraid of getting an F. Growth comes from mistakes. You have to cherish them, so you can learn from them. Your mistakes are your greatest gift."

35/ Everyone has the power to make little choices that can alter their lives forever. You can either choose to give in to inertia and continue waiting in line for the First door or you can choose to jump out of the line, run down the alley, and take the Third door.