#49 Screw It, Let's Do It: Lessons in Life by Richard Branson

**David Senra** (0:00)
I want to tell you about a one-time only limited event that I don't think you're going to want to miss. I am doing a live show with Patrick O'Shaughnessy from the Invest Like the Best podcast in New York City on October 19th. Patrick has interviewed over 300 of the world's best investors and founders for his podcast. I've read over 300 biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs for my podcast. We'll be talking about what we learned from seven years of podcasting, sharing our favorite ideas and stories and doing a live Q&A. There will also be special event-only swag. If you live in New York City, I think it's a no-brainer. But if not, I think it's a great excuse to fly in. I've already heard from a bunch of people that bought tickets, they're flying in from other cities. Some people are flying in from other countries. That's setting the bar really high, so I will have at least four shots of espresso or four energy drinks before or during the show so we can make it a night that you'll never forget. If you're interested in attending this unique live event, I will leave a link down below. I highly recommend you get your tickets today and I hope I get to see you in New York on October 19th. Though I have never followed the rules at every step, I have learned many lessons along the way. These lessons have done me good throughout my lifetime. I have written them down and I hope that you will find something in these pages that might inspire you.
I believe in goals. It's never a bad thing to have a dream, but I'm practical about it. I don't sit daydreaming about things that are impossible. I set goals and then I work on how to achieve them.
Anything I want to do in life, I want to do well and not half-heartedly.
At school, I found reading and writing hard. Back then, dyslexia wasn't understood and my teachers just thought I was lazy. So I taught myself to learn things by heart. Now I have a very good memory and it has become one of my best tools in business. When I was starting out in life, things were more certain than they are these days. You had a career lined up, often the same one that your father followed. Most mothers stayed at home. Today, nothing is sure and life is one long struggle. People have to make choices if they are gonna get anywhere. The best lesson I learned was to just do it.
It doesn't matter what it is or how hard it might seem. As the ancient Greek Plato said, the beginning is the most important part of any work. A journey of a thousand miles starts with that first step.
If you look ahead to the end and all the weary miles between, with all the dangers you might face, you might never take that first step. And whatever it is you want to achieve in life, if you don't make the effort, you won't reach your goal. So take that first step. All right, so that was an excerpt from the introduction of the book that I want to talk to you about today, and that is Screw It, Let's Do It, Lessons in Life and Business by Richard Branson. So the way I would describe this book is it's as if Richard Branson wrote his own Cliff Notes version of Losing My Virginity. So the way this book differs from the other two is Losing My Virginity and Finding My Virginity are really long books. It's about 400 pages. I would estimate probably a 10-hour read each. This book is really short. You could probably read it in two hours, maybe in one sitting, maybe two sittings. So with that in mind, let's just go ahead and jump in and go through some of the notes and the highlights that I just found really interesting. It's actually a refreshing way to write a book because there's really very little fluff.
So you're going to see that as we carry on. All right, so I want to start out in the first chapter. The book is separated into nine different chapters just with different advice, like lessons that you're supposed to apply not only in your life, but also in business. So the first one is what he was just talking about in the introduction, that he felt the best lesson he ever learned was just to get on with it, just to do it. So let's go to the book. I find more reasons to do things than to not do them. My motto really is, screw it, let's do it. I will never say I can't do this because I don't know how to. I'll give it a go. And I won't let silly rules stop me. I will find a legal way around them. I tell my staff, if you want to do it, just do it. That way we all benefit. The staff's work and ideas are valued and virgin gains from their input and drive. Let me just interject here real quick.