Millionaire Principle 4/100: Be the Dumbest in the Room

Today, I was the dumbest person in the room.

By far. 

In this case, it wasn’t a room full of real estate investors, where I usually find myself, but instead, a room of some of the world’s best internet marketers, bloggers, authors, YouTubers, and speakers. 

Why I was invited to be in this room is beyond me - clearly a mistake or misunderstanding regarding my skillet or connections. Nevertheless, when I received the invitation several months ago, I agreed to come. 

Well, that’s almost not true. I actually wrote out a pretty detailed response to the group leader as to why I couldn’t be there. And they were legitimately good reasons: I didn’t want to leave the family (again), it was halfway across the world from me, and I’ve been doing a lot of events lately so I needed some time at home.

While those were valid reasons, they were not the whole reason for my declining the invitation. The reason I didn’t want to go: insecurity. The host shared the guest list on the invitation - and these were the best of the best, people I had been learning from and following from afar for years - some for more than a decade. And I knew that I didn’t belong in the room. 

So I wrote out the lengthy “thanks, but no can do” text and stood in my kitchen, holding the phone for a good three minutes without hitting send. Then, in a brief flash of bravery, I quickly deleted the whole message and responded with just two little words: 

“I’m in.” 

That brings me to being the dumbest guy in the room. And the amount of knowledge and connections I made today were absolutely unreal. I’m not exaggerating when I say that the information I learned over the last two days of this event will make me millions, if not tens of millions, of dollars, and perhaps most importantly, It will help me grow The BetterLife Tribe so we can give away tens of millions of dollars more.

All because I put myself into a room where I was the dumbest person. 

And it’s not the first time. Throughout my pursuit of wealth, especially early on,  I’ve continually attended events, masterminds, conferences, seminars, and meetups where I would be stretched. Each time, I walk away more like the people in that room. As I’ve grown, I’ve needed to put myself into greater and greater rooms, which often costs more and more money… but it’s always been worth it. 

When I go to the gym, I don’t lift weights that are easy to lift - because it’s the struggle, the effort, the pain that builds the muscle. In the same way, if you want to grow in any area of life, you must put yourself in the room where you are forced to get better. If you take the comfortable route by avoiding “the rooms” altogether or by only attending events where you clearly are in the upper echelon of success, it might be fun, but it’s not going to grow you. 

You need to surround yourself with next-level thinking to begin thinking at the next level. 

Love you!

-Brandon