How Drake's Rank Mindset Made Him 25 Million At 25 (Online Read)

HOW DRAKE'S RANK MINDSET MADE HIM 25 MILLION AT 25

To clear this up, this relates to success and not ranking Drake's Tinder photos.

The Star of Degrassi

Aubrey Graham. You may know him as Drake, but that is a sham. It’s Aubrey. 

But to keep it… not confusing, we’ll call him Drake for the edition. 

Some people may know him for his “Baby” appearance in the Justin Bieber classic, but he is also now a multi-platinum artist who has won several awards for redefining the music industry. 

But we know him from “Baby.” Anyway, Drake released his first mixtape at 20 years old in 2006, and 18 years later, he is nearing in on 100 billion streams on Spotify.

To actually understand how much that is, that is about 300 billion minutes, which is about 570,776 years of continuous music playback. Wild. 

So anyway, what can we learn from someone with this much dedication, hard work, and time in the game? 

Actually quite a lot.

I Don’t Want To Win

There is a cliche about winning. Wanting to win. Wanting things to go right for you. We all want it but often are too afraid to say it. 

An interviewer told Drake that a lot of musicians do their best to not say things “I want to be the best” or “#1” or “I want to win”, especially Canadian musicians. But Drake says it proudly. 

This quote proves it. “I want to win.” -Drake. Clearly, this guy wants to win. And this is his response to saying he wants to be #1.

“Well, I don’t wanna be number 2. I think that would be a weird thing to sit here and say that.” 

The truth is, everyone should want to be the best at what they do. For this newsletter, our goal is to make it the best in the world. Daunting for sure, but why settle for 40th on the ranking list? 

What kind of ideal reality is that? Is that a motivation that keeps us going every day? That makes us excited to work in the morning? Not really. 

For you, it could be being the best husband, wife, dad, mom, plumber, student, coder, manager, scuba diver, and the list goes on. 

But perhaps the reason no one is is because they are too scared to admit it themselves. And because they’re too afraid to say it, so they never make it the goal. 

Close Call

The reason it’s so hard to state goals out loud is because then people hear them. People can hold you accountable. But even more so, you hold yourself accountable. Or… you don’t. 

So if you say, “Dang nabbit. I want to be the best cookie cutter in all the land,” you actually admit that to yourself. 

Not sure how many cookie cutters there are in the land or if the bar is high, but I like this hypothetical person’s grit. 

Now that you’ve said it out loud, it means something has to happen. The reason people don’t say it out loud is because if they say it out loud then don’t achieve it, it looks bad. Even if it’s just between themselves.

They can brush it off like it’s no big deal, or they never wanted it in the first place. But they did. They just never admitted it to themselves. 

People like Drake got to where they are a little bit because of their relentless hard work and innovation in the music industry for 18 years, but also because they can be real with themselves. 

He knew he wanted to be at the top, and he got there. 

Admit It

So try this. Take out a piece of paper and a pen. Or say it aloud in a mirror. Or recite it in your head. 

Tell yourself that you want to be the best at whatever it is you do, or want to do. And it’s usually pretty horrifying to do this. 

The moment we say it, we now have a new standard. The highest standard ever, actually. 

“How can I be the best when I just started?” 

“How can I be the best when people have been doing it longer?” 

How can I be the best when blah blah blah?

All valid questions, since we’re not too sure what the “best in the world” for our thing looks like.

It takes time. It takes work. It takes effort. It takes going to the best to learn how to become the best. 

But at least admit that’s what you want. No one is saying you have to be the best in the world at a thing in 90 days.

But be real. Do you want to be the best? No shame here. Do you just want to be so-so? 50/50? Toes half in the water?

Because until you let yourself know you’re willing to take on the challenge, you’ll never act like you want to be the best, which costs you that title.

Unlock The Better Version of You

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

The better version of you needs a better-quality newsletter, correct? Of course, that’s why our email newsletter is what you need.

‎ ‎ ‎

The web version is great. Immersive audio is a neat little trick. But what about custom-designed, limited-edition products? What about sick announcements, referral prizes, and feeling really cool?

‎

That is all email subscriber exclusive. So feel free to enter your email, or just keep refreshing our web version hoping more editions populate. It will work eventually.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎

And yeah, maybe Elon will call you baby too.