Michael Hyatt

It's a good question. Thankfully, my wife, Gail, we've been married for 46 years now. I think she knew what she was signing up for. And she is like the most positive, optimistic person you'll ever meet. And she's told me on more than one occasion, because there's been a lot of setbacks and challenges. She said, look, make the decision you need to make.

It's a good question. Thankfully, my wife, Gail, we've been married for 46 years now. I think she knew what she was signing up for. And she is like the most positive, optimistic person you'll ever meet. And she's told me on more than one occasion, because there's been a lot of setbacks and challenges. She said, look, make the decision you need to make.

And if we end up living in a refrigerator box under an overpass, I'm with you 100%. That's given me a lot of confidence to try new things and to feel like failure is not final. It's only feedback. And so I took that as feedback. And there were, believe me, there's nobody I blame for that business failure except myself. And I wished I'd known then what I know now, but I didn't.

And if we end up living in a refrigerator box under an overpass, I'm with you 100%. That's given me a lot of confidence to try new things and to feel like failure is not final. It's only feedback. And so I took that as feedback. And there were, believe me, there's nobody I blame for that business failure except myself. And I wished I'd known then what I know now, but I didn't.

And I just made some not so great decisions. But who trains you for that? I mean, where do you get the help for that? We were just making it up as we go, trying to make the best decisions we can at the time. But it turns out all those decisions weren't great. But yeah, I think resilience is the key to success.

And I just made some not so great decisions. But who trains you for that? I mean, where do you get the help for that? We were just making it up as we go, trying to make the best decisions we can at the time. But it turns out all those decisions weren't great. But yeah, I think resilience is the key to success.

You know, the people that are the most successful are literally the people that are the most resilient. When you see and you understand their story and all the things that they have to go through to be successful, I think the main superpower is you don't have to be the smartest person You don't have to be the most hardworking person, but you've got to be resilient.

You know, the people that are the most successful are literally the people that are the most resilient. When you see and you understand their story and all the things that they have to go through to be successful, I think the main superpower is you don't have to be the smartest person You don't have to be the most hardworking person, but you've got to be resilient.

When you fall off the horse, you've got to get back in the saddle. And I learned that as a boy because my dad bought me a pony and we went out into a softly plowed field. And I was about five years old. And within 30 seconds, I was on my butt in the field. And my dad, you know, I was crying. And my dad, basically, I grew up in western Nebraska. And the general...

When you fall off the horse, you've got to get back in the saddle. And I learned that as a boy because my dad bought me a pony and we went out into a softly plowed field. And I was about five years old. And within 30 seconds, I was on my butt in the field. And my dad, you know, I was crying. And my dad, basically, I grew up in western Nebraska. And the general...

Wisdom, the common sense was, look, just rub some dirt in it and get back on the horse. So that's what I did. And that lesson served me well my entire life. I didn't really know any better. And it's always been a necessity. So failure to me is not an option. It's a choice. And I choose not to stay down.

Wisdom, the common sense was, look, just rub some dirt in it and get back on the horse. So that's what I did. And that lesson served me well my entire life. I didn't really know any better. And it's always been a necessity. So failure to me is not an option. It's a choice. And I choose not to stay down.

I think one of the biggest ones was that we didn't have a clearly articulated vision for where we were going. And as a result, we didn't have a filter. to be able to discern between what was a opportunity and what was a distraction. And this is really hard for people as they become successful, because the more successful you are, you start to draw opportunities to yourself.

I think one of the biggest ones was that we didn't have a clearly articulated vision for where we were going. And as a result, we didn't have a filter. to be able to discern between what was a opportunity and what was a distraction. And this is really hard for people as they become successful, because the more successful you are, you start to draw opportunities to yourself.

And a lot of those are actually distractions masquerading as opportunities, but without a vision as a filter, then you just end up saying yes to everything, and we got spread too thin. So we thought, okay, we're great at adult trade books. Those have been successful. So let's publish kids' books and let's publish gift books. And we got into all these genres, fiction, that we had no expertise in.

And a lot of those are actually distractions masquerading as opportunities, but without a vision as a filter, then you just end up saying yes to everything, and we got spread too thin. So we thought, okay, we're great at adult trade books. Those have been successful. So let's publish kids' books and let's publish gift books. And we got into all these genres, fiction, that we had no expertise in.

And that just not being able to focus was huge, but it starts with a vision.

And that just not being able to focus was huge, but it starts with a vision.

Working as a literary agent was a lot of fun. And I love that because I still considered myself even at that point as a literary midwife. And so now I got to work even more directly with authors as their agent. But at some point, it was mostly just my partner, one other agent, and a couple of executive assistants.

Working as a literary agent was a lot of fun. And I love that because I still considered myself even at that point as a literary midwife. And so now I got to work even more directly with authors as their agent. But at some point, it was mostly just my partner, one other agent, and a couple of executive assistants.