The Third Door: The Mindset of Success is all about the idea that there is always a way to your desired outcome. The front door is how everyone tries to get in. The side door is how the VIPs, family, and friends get in. But the third door – that’s how the determined ones get in. Banayan shares his journey of writing this book and getting interviews with household names like Lady Gaga, Warren Buffett, and Bill Gates, all while learning life lessons of his own along the way. This is a great book for business, but also for networking and understanding the impact that your network can have on the opportunities that you will come across in life. Think outside the box. Go through the third door.
Favorite Quotes:
“Nobody is in control of who they are when they’re born,” she continued. “You’re born into the family you’re born into and you’re born into the circumstances you’re born into. So you just have to take what you can from where you’re at and not compare yourself to other people. You have to look at your path and know that whatever got you there, and where you’re going, is unique to you. You weren’t supposed to be any other way.”
“When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.”
“Luck is like a bus,” he told me. “If you miss one, there’s always the next one. But if you’re not prepared, you won’t be able to jump on.”
“Maybe the hardest part about taking a risk isn’t whether to take it, it’s when to take it. It’s never clear how much momentum is enough to justify leaving school. It’s never clear when it’s the right time to quit your job. Big decisions are rarely clear when you’re making them—they’re only clear looking back. The best you can do is take one careful step at a time.”
“You have to cherish your mistakes,” he said. “You have to get back up no matter how many times you get knocked down. There are some people who face defeat and retreat; who become cautious and afraid, who deal with fear instead of passion, and that’s not right. I know it seems complex, but it’s relatively simple. It’s: let go and let God.”
“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. It’s about realizing that, if you want to continue being Mufasa, at the same time you have to keep being Simba.”
“A tipping point only appears in hindsight,” Elliott added. “You don’t feel it when you’re in the trenches. Being an entrepreneur is about pushing, not tipping.”
“in life, there are friends, there are best friends—and then there are the best friends who carry your dad’s casket.”
“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.”
“I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.”
