How to be a Go-Getter and not a No-Getter

The Go-Getter gets because they go. The No-Getter gets nothing because they go nowhere.

Why We Go

The idea of a go-getter is someone who takes initiative in chasing down the results they want. Go-getters are intentional and assert themselves, without ever having to be prompted by something or someone else. The go-getter is not passive or reactive, though they recognize opportunities and take full advantage of them when they present themselves. Opportunities come to those who are already working towards the things they want.

The go-getter has goals, ambitions, dreams, and desires— in defiance of the prevailing ethos that one should slow down, find work–life balance, and be a minimalist. These ideas, as powerful as they might be for others, would require the go-getter to defy their very nature: to set a target and pursue it until they achieve it. They are driven by their ambitions, their dreams, and their desires, and they go to work bringing them to life.

The no-getter gets nothing, often only because they haven’t set goals and targets for themselves. They can do the work, but they haven’t yet looked inside to identify their ambitions and dreams and desires. In some cases, they repress these things because they have been taught they can’t have them or that they shouldn’t even want them, especially if they lead to wealth or success. Lacking the intrinsic motivation that would get up their go, they end up settling for far less than they could achieve.

Effort and Energy

It’s very difficult to outwork or out-hustle a go-getter, as they have boundless mental and physical energy. They’re up when others are asleep, and they’ve already engaged in something worthwhile before most people have even hit the snooze button. They are full of action.

Bringing any vision to life requires effort, whether it’s a small goal or a huge one. Those who experience that thrill earn it by exerting long-term, necessary effort— they know that with enough discipline, the result is a foregone conclusion before they even begin to pursue it. The “go” provides the motivation and the discipline to take continual action, even when results come slowly, and even after anyone else would have given up long ago.

Those who don’t get are deprived of the things they may want, either because they lack the clarity of desire— the hunger, if you will— or because they are not putting forth the appropriate effort over time. Extraordinary natural talent may place someone in the top one percent in their field, but the other 99% succeed from desire, will, and effort.

The Mindset

Getters get what they want because they bring a certain indomitable mindset to the endeavor of creating results. Their mindset is marked by the inability to be defeated or to give up. Discipline, intestinal fortitude, and radical personal accountability let them persist against any odds, no matter how unlikely.

Those who get believe that they are the single most important obstacle standing between them and what they want. They own the outcomes they want, fully and without any exceptions. As such, they believe that everything is their fault, and that they are the only one who needs to change whatever is necessary to succeed. This mindset is difficult to acquire, but once gained, it leads to goal attainment and all of the rewards that come with it.

On the other hand, the no-getters look for external explanations for why they don’t have what they desire. Instead of looking inside, they look “out there,” desperately seeking some way to avoid accountability, absolving themselves of the responsibility to change. The sad truth is that these external factors are nothing more than excuses, which might grant some psychological comfort, but do nothing to move them closer to their goals.

Growth and Belief

I hope this post caused you a bit of dissonance. What you believe about success and achievement may have been installed long ago, creating beliefs that have shaped the way you look at the world. Those beliefs have created the story you tell yourself about what is good and right and true, and more importantly, they’ve driven the choices you made.

But you can’t grow if you’re unwilling to examine your long-held beliefs, especially the ones you hold dear. Do they still serve you well? Are they still useful?

Creating a different life and a different set of outcomes means shedding old beliefs for new ones, beliefs that better serve you. Posts like this might spark something inside you. If not today, I hope it happens at some point in the future, when luck and circumstances give you a glimpse—something that will shift your thinking and cause you to do something you have never done, in pursuit of something you have never had.