To be “on the right track” can mean many things and have various dimensions. For instance, think about a guy who consumed drugs for many years and has now been away from it already for more than eighteen months. Even if you may think that is not enough time to cry victory, he surely deserves the recognition for his efforts. We can say that he is now on the right track.

And what about that dude who used to party every weekend, eating plenty of shit on the side, but who has now embraced a much healthier lifestyle.

Instead of McDonald’s, he buys his raw food in the supermarket and cooks it at home. Instead of that club filled with “bitch shields”, he now wakes up early and hits the gym like an animal. And of course, all that alcohol which used to fuck him up has been replaced by water and fruit juices. Hey, hands down, this fellow is surely on the right track now!

Or let us say that a guy, similar to this one described before, used to suck with women. Anytime he was speaking more than ten minutes with a lady, make no mistake, that female was certainly his mother, because the others would have already left him, labelling him as strange, creepy or awkward.

But suddenly something changed, when he simply could not bear anymore the pain of defeat and rejection. So he began to study game like a nerd, improving his social skills and style, starting to lose his fear of approaching women, whether when going out or even during the day.

Fast forward two years, and Johnny must already ignore or flake on some poor souls, as his “pussy harem busy agenda” does not allow him to fill every girl’s needs.

But this list of examples could not be finished without a money example. Paul used to live above his means: anytime there was a friend suggesting a trip, another one suggesting having a dinner at a cool restaurant or even when there was no one telling him a damn thing – he would just buy plenty of useless stuff in Amazon – there he was ready to swipe his credit card.

However, due to the unbearable situation (aka debt) he had fallen into, he reached a point in which he could not even afford a loaf of bread. Such anguish made him change his behaviour and mindset and he is now a person who does not owe anything to anyone, being on the right track to live life on his own financial terms.

When you pass the first level

The examples before are what I consider to be the first level of the game – the real basics which, if not fulfilled, will simply drown you into the depths of society. Sure, they deserve to be praised, in case they are an improvement of something which was terrible before.

However, they are nothing more than the minimum required.

Because there is a force, the system, society or whatever you want to call it, which is ruthless towards people who do not have the basics covered.

Yes, to have a rehab and to leave drug behind is great, but most of normal people never touch a gram of cocaine in their lifetime.

And what about your diet? To eat wholesome and healthy is already half of the battle won but the reality is that, in this tough world, to be fit or thin is (still) the norm, so do not see it as a great achievement.

“Hey but wait, to pick up women like a king is already advanced level, Pistol”! Ok, sure you are way above the average in case you have a constant supply of females entering your apartment, but do you really want to compare yourself to such guys who have just picked up a couple of girls in their lifetime? You want to look up, not down, where losers live in constant scarcity.

Besides, a guy who lives to fuck is a guy who gets fucked by money, meaning that he spends a lot and lives to impress, becoming broke in the whole process.

Talking about money, we should give credit to a guy who becomes debt-free and regains the control of his bank account, and consequently of his life. However, that is what the normal and responsible people do! Yes, to have some money left in the end of the month and not just to live paycheck by paycheck.

Therefore, I have a total different definition of what is to be “on the right track”, taking into account that all the minimum standards are being met (being fit and stylish, eating healthy, having no debt and some money saved, and dating different women – or, at least, having the choice to do so).

Yes, because if you are debt-free, in shape, you bang a couple of women and you have a nice job, which allows you to pay your bills and having dinners out during the weekend, you are still far from being on the right track. Why? Because you keep being a slave of your time.

Therefore, the only way to be a successful person is to be self-made, someone who is not dependent on anyone (of course that will always be accountable for your actions and living under some governmental rules, but that is a different story) and can tell the others “fuck you” anytime the need comes.

However, if such path were that easy, then everyone would be doing it so, in case you are wondering whether you will eventually reach that state – since you are still reading this, I can assume that you are not there yet – then these are the 7 signs which clearly show that you are “on the right track”:

You do not feel comfortable when doing leisure activities

Before it used to be your occupation, almost your passion.

Yes, when leisure was your middle name.

When you would feel stupid or sad when staying at home, while all your friends were out having fun.

Or that you would only feel good or even fulfilled when you would, in the same day, go to the beach, go playing football and finish the day watching a nice film in the cinema.

Everything was about doing more and more, just to then brag to your friends and new girls you would meet along the way, that you had already been there, that you had visited that place, that you had watched that film or that you had been in that trendy club.

But nowadays it is like you are a totally different person. That “old you”, that useless guy who was active, but just when the topic was about having fun or nice moments, seems like a faint memory of the past.

Because this “new you” tends to ignore, even avoid, such leisure moments. “Hey do not be a pain in the ass, come out with us…you have been home the whole week”. And you just look to the side, uninterested and answer that you can not, because you need to work on your project.

And when you eventually go out, being at some event or even at a party (unless, of course, it is filled with hot women, but I suspect that it rarely happens), you start feeling uncomfortable.

Neither due to the social pressure nor because you are afraid of people, just because the only thought which pops in your mind is “damn, I am wasting my time. I should be home working”.

You feel the day is not long enough

Remember you were that guy who used to say “present” to all the social events and leisure activities? You would fill up your busy, daily agenda with going to the gym, meeting friends, dating that girl, watching a theater’s play and even going for a couple of drinks in the evening.

Whatever you used to do, the day always looked too short because of the endless things you would occupy yourself with.

Coincidentally, the person you have become today has exactly the same problem: lack of time. However, based on a complete shift of priorities.

Maybe you want to import some products from overseas. But first, you need to understand how you can find the best vendors and suppliers.

Then, to figure out the cheapest and fastest way to bring those goods to you.

And finally, to be total aware of what are the regulations regarding the things you want to sell in your own country.

Or eventually you are upgrading your website, customizing some menus and adding a shopping cart to it, but you are stuck with that CSS code. You see other websites, so organized and well presented, while yours seems like a representation from a company in 1998.

So you dig into the complex world of coding, where you try to learn more on how to correctly configure your online page.

So in the end, exactly like when you used to be a leisure addict, you feel that the day is never long enough. Same feeling but with a total different reason behind it.

You avoid to buy things which you would easily buy before

You look back and there were actually no restrictions on what you would spend your money on. Sure, you could not buy the latest gadget, that fancy car or that 100” television but, aside from that, everything would fall on your lap almost magically.

And even when praying about “self-development bullshit”, instead of putting your ass on the line and taking some risks – aka taking some REAL action – you always preferred to order dozens of books which, even being great, added nothing to your life (or, at least, to your entrepreneurship endeavors).

“Oh yeah, I want to be an entrepreneur and conquer the world” but then the maximum you could do was to add that literature to the shopping basket – when you should actually be building the basket.

You would buy all the shit which, even if being cheap per unit itself, would yimply pile up, leaving you in the end with a bunch of useless stuff whose only advantage was to look good in your bedroom.

But today it is different. You have acquired this producer mentality in which you start despising everything and everyone who just consumes and whose ultimate goal is only to spend money.

Sure, you still have the will and desire to acquire things (actually this is a much more psychological issue than one can think of, being actually a dependence like taking drugs or smoking), but somehow you refrain from buying it.

In a certain night, you are at home and you suddenly you remember a nice pair of headphones. One hour later, you have already three ready to be bought and you are about to press the confirm button.

But then something inside you prevents to do it and, in a gesture of Spartan resistance, you erase two items and “save the other one for later”.

You do not engage in such activities as gambling, betting or lottery

If you are a normal middle-class person, most likely you have been playing in the lottery for the last twenty years. Hey, if everyone else is doing, it must be something totally normal, right? Right…in case you want to keep living your normal life.

Game is the weapon of the poor and who tells you otherwise is either a poor person or a very rich person who owns the game.

To base one life’s on luck is the hope of the weak. It is the ultimate loser resort. It is where you literally deposit all your hopes, since you have already given up on becoming rich by other means. Yes, that difficult path of adding value to the world and reaping its rewards.

But if playing in the lottery once per week is already bad enough – but curiously enough still “socially accepted” – what to say about your evenings spent at the local casino?

Or worse, hiding behind your computer screen, wasting all your money in secret without the need to go through that painful social shame?

Or maybe the roulette is not your thing, and you prefer to use your sport knowledge and bet in sports, because after all the odds will be on your side.

Well, whichever the cases described above are, they are harmful to every aspect of your life.

On the other hand, if just the idea of gambling and playing lucky games makes you feel like throwing up, then you are definitely on the right track.

Because you know that, anytime you bet a cent in a thing whose probability is 1000 times lower than picking up a 10 in a firefighters’ party, you will be a step further from not only your goals but also the right mindset to actually become wealthy.

So you avoid like it the plague, as you know that luck and easy paths will never lead you to success.

You are not cheap

Do you know what the majority of the people do? They usually spend the money in the wrong things, ending up the month almost or actually broke, therefore saving pennies where they should not. You know whom I am talking about.

Those people who go out have dinner but then choose the cheapest dish, just because the bolognesa costs 5€ less than the beef. But then they get the worst meat of their lives and end up in McDonald’s as they were so goddamn hungry.

Or when they book the non-refundable option of a hotel, to then realize one month later that they need to change plans and are now stuck with 300€.

Or when they go having dinner out with friends and in the end they suggest that each person pays what he or she has consumed (unless, of course, they eat more than the others and in this case all good with the “hey let’s split the check evenly?”). Instead of a nice moment, these people just get a bad atmosphere among their friends.

Or when they could pay 20€ to get their clothes ironed, but they prefer to lose three hours of their precious Sunday time doing an activity which will add NOTHING to their life.

Look, I know how difficult it is to earn money and how you should not waste it on unnecessary items, services or activities. However, there is a huge difference between being cheap and spending money wisely.

That is why you do not go for the cheapest anymore. You do not engage in household activities which suck all your time. You do not put yourself in embarrassing situations just to save some cents.

NO. Because you have acquired a different (the right) mindset, you know that to reach high, you need to think big. So in the end you prefer to engage in fewer activities and to buy fewer things but, when doing it, you do it with quality and in an altruistic way.

You do not put women as a priority

Almost last but surely not least, it comes what used to be the reason of your existence. Vagina, pussy, cunt, clam, Area 51, breakfast of the champions, honey pot, meat socket, snatch, muff, all lovely names for what has been “ruining” your life since your weiner got strong enough to control your life’s decisions.

Yes, instead of staying at home programming and developing an app which could change the world, you opted to go to that house party to check some chicks.

Or when you should have saved some money to live a comfortable life this year, you decided to spend it all on a two-month trip in Latin America to find those sexy Latinas you had dreamt so much about.

However, being due to your age, choices or circumstances, suddenly everything – or at least many things – started to change. And nowadays, even if you still naturally keep enjoying women, you almost do not give a damn about them. I and mean FOR REAL, not this bullshit PUA style of pretending you do not care.

(And curiously enough, you begin to approach them much more confidently when you do not really care about the outcome. Yes, that approach anxiety and deep fear of embarrassment suddenly vanishes).

Hey, you still love them and want to spend time with them, but somehow they are not your main goal anymore. Why? Well, because they suck up two of the three most important assets in life: time and money. And sometimes even the third, as they totally screw your (mental and even physical) health.

Once in a while, people whom you do not know compliment you

Back in the days of being an obedient corporate rat, where all your ambitions and dreams were deposited in your career, you were many times praised by the people around you.

Your boss, the secretary or any other person in the company who would recognize how hard-working and responsible you were. The result? A pat on the back and a smile to make your day.

Actually, you would not make their day better, just their employee day much easier. And in the end, even if you would get a salary raise (which would never represent your real value), it would always be the company itself reaping all the rewards.

On the other hand, since you have chosen the long path of entrepreneurship, rarely you have received any compliments. Sometimes, not even any kind of feedback. However, you trust your gut and you just keep going.

Because it is not anymore a question of “showing that you are responsible” or that you have a job title which you must sustain and comply with, rather that you actually want to achieve something on your own.

Yes, as strange as it may seem, you want to leave a mark on this world, eventually a legacy, by adding value to others.

And once in while, even when that comes in form of an email or a simple web chat, someone compliments your work. Not that praise which just suits the suits, but a real one, one coming from within. All because you have made a real impact on that life’s person and he or she feels the urge, almost the obligation, to thank you. Is there a better feeling than that?

In Short

One of the most difficult tasks which exists is the ability to assess ourselves. Sometimes we may be convinced that we are doing something in red, when in reality all the others are seeing it blue.

Perhaps, you believe that you are already on the right track, when in fact you are still at a very early stage of this long road called entrepreneurship.

Plus, and taking into account that you will most likely be totally on your own, it will be easy to lose yourself and to deviate from the path which would, eventually, lead you to success. Many are the cases in which one starts well, just to totally screw it up along the way.

That is why, if you want to follow the example of successful people, you need to start acting like them. Not just acting, but actually thinking like them and embracing a winning mindset which will consequently change your habits for the better.

If doing so, there will be a moment in which you will feel awkward anytime you will be just “enjoying life” or devoting too much time to women. Because you know that the 24 hours available of the day will always run short whenever you will be meeting your daily targets.

That is also why you will avoid buying stuff, just because this producer mentality is now so ingrained in you that it will be impossible to get rid of it.

Consequently, you do not believe anymore in easy ways of earning money, so you never rely on such things as lottery and gambling. And even if you know how difficult it is to actually make cash, you still keep an altruistic, abundant attitude towards life, avoiding any kind of frugality and scarcity.

In the end, by always looking to improve yourself and to add value to the world, there will be a moment in which this world will start noticing and recognizing, even praising, your work. This is exactly when you will look yourself in the mirror and say with the utmost conviction “I am on the right track”.