I’ve been learning an incredibly painful lesson, which has cost me years of my life and drained my soul.

Don’t accept any less than 100%.

Would you board a jet that had a 99% no-crash rating?

Or a friend that was incredible 99% of the time, but ripped you off blind 1% of the time?

You could multiply 100 x 100 x 100… 99 times in a row.

Then multiply that giant number by zero- and what do you have?

That’s the price of a certain category of failure.

Am I demanding impossible perfection from people, where you jump down their throats on mistakes?

How does this jive with experimentation, forgiveness, and growth?

What I’ve learned is the difference between graceful and catastrophic failure.

The former is a normal life, while the latter is unfixable character issues.

Be super, super selective of who you associate with.

When people tell you who they are, believe them.

I’ve paid dearly with my life and resources by being enamored of people who are wicked smart and charismatic— or have a sob story that rationalizes away their bad behavior and rotten situation.

Now I care about just one thing— their character. Are they loyal— there for you no matter what, even when convenient to screw over— and do the right thing when it counts?

Friends, silver and gold, the new ones and old ones.

Time to get rich slowly, with a small, tight group of friends. And make an impact on those who believe in our mission.

Are you setting the bar high enough for what you truly deserve?

Dennis Yu

Dennis Yu is co-author of the #1 best selling book on Amazon in social media, The Definitive Guide to TikTok Ads. He has spent a billion dollars on Facebook ads across his agencies and agencies he advises. Mr. Yu is the "million jobs" guy-- on a mission to create one million jobs via hands-on social media training, partnering with universities and professional organizations. You can find him quoted in major publications and on television such as CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, and LA Times. Clients have included Nike, Red Bull, the Golden State Warriors, Ashley Furniture, Quiznos-- down to local service businesses like real estate agents and dentists. He's spoken at over 750 conferences in 20 countries, having flown over 6 million miles in the last 30 years to train up young adults and business owners. He speaks for free as long as the organization believes in the job-creation mission and covers business class travel. You can find him hiking tall mountains, eating chicken wings, and taking Kaqun oxygen baths-- likely in a city near you.

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