About once a year, a powerful internal need arises to share what has accumulated. It seems the mind can work like a storage drive, collecting data, observations, and experiences, processing it all until a certain point when it signals: "Capacity is full, time to share." And so, here we are.

Over the past year, I have experienced leaps in development in virtually every area of life—from professional endeavors and business to sports and personal relationships. Even friendships, it seems, have reached a new level of depth. On the cusp of my thirty-first birthday, I realized it was time to take stock. Not a formal report of accomplishments, but an honest, candid cross-section of the first third of a life lived.

Today, I have gathered five main conclusions that serve as a kind of foundation in my life at this moment. I want to share them with you. These are not inspiring quotes or someone else’s success formulas, but principles that have matured within me over years of mistakes, experiments, defeats, and breakthroughs. They have formed my personal coordinate system.

Globally, these five conclusions now define everything: how I make decisions, where I direct my attention and time, what I abandon, and most importantly, what I choose to truly invest in. This is the framework of how I live. I am certain these conclusions will be useful to you as well, because I, like you, am on my own path—trying, making mistakes, comprehending, and moving forward. And though each of us has our own route, our common ground is far greater than it seems.

The fourth and fifth conclusions are particularly powerful; they are not just insights, but the very elements without which nothing else seems to work.

1. Plans Don't Work; Probabilities Do

We all love to script how beautifully our lives will unfold. In a year, I’ll launch a startup; in three, an IPO. Somewhere in between, I’ll accidentally become a person of influence while discussing buying a property on Mars with Elon Musk. And then, every time, something similar happens. It’s as if we sit down at the negotiating table with life and say, "So, life, look, I’ve written it all down, calculated everything. All that's left is to implement it. Agreed?" And life, rubbing its hands with a sly smile, replies, "Well, let's have some fun."

Why does this happen? Because planning the future is like drawing a map of a place you’ve never been. You see only the first few turns, and then—complete uncertainty. What opportunities will arise, what crises must be overcome—you simply cannot know in advance.

Here is the main conclusion I have reached in 30 years: true success, especially significant success, is not about plans at all. It is exclusively about probability. It’s similar to a lottery; the more tickets you buy, the higher your chance of winning. But no one makes a plan for how to win the lottery. That is absolutely pointless. So it is with business and life. You cannot plan success; you can only increase its probability.

How, then, do you increase probability? Every attempt—launching a new project, testing a hypothesis, learning something new—is essentially a new ticket. The more quality attempts you make with deep involvement, meaning, and dedication, the higher the chance that one will pay off. This isn't magic; it's statistics.

But there is an important nuance. If you stand still for a long time with disappointing results, you have likely closed yourself off in a cocoon. You have stopped adding new variables: new people, new knowledge, new opportunities. Without new external variables, the probability of success drops to zero. That’s why it is critically important to be open to the world.

At the same time, one should not chase every single opportunity. That is a trap. The key is to find a balance. I have formulated a simple and effective rule for myself: keep doing what you are good at, and regularly try something new. Notice, I am not saying to abandon the old. On the contrary, if something is already working, continue with it. Just regularly make room for new experiments. It is often there, in places that seem strange, illogical, or "not you," that your next breakthrough is hidden.

It’s crucial not to cling to past attitudes or outdated images of yourself. Life often provides better and more promising options than those we could have ever planned.

2. Partnerships Are Decisive

Frankly, I cannot imagine life without partnerships. It is the foundation on which everything rests: business, family, sports, even hobbies. Without strong partners, nothing I’ve achieved would have been possible.

Of course, one can believe in the beautiful legend of the solitary genius who writes code in a basement and suddenly becomes a billionaire. But in my opinion, this is a myth. If you look at real data, for example, from Silicon Valley, it turns out that companies valued at over a billion dollars are created by an average of 2.7 founders. Not one, but nearly three. This is not a coincidence; it is a systemic pattern.

Why? Because alone, we tend to view the world through our own filters, which are often clouded by biases, beliefs, and fears. Someone is convinced it's impossible to earn significant money honestly. Someone else believes a strong family is a utopia for a driven professional. As long as you spin in these thoughts alone, you simply do not see other scenarios.

But as soon as a person with a different experience and perspective appears, growth begins. You start not just thinking, but "thinking against someone." You propose a hypothesis, receive feedback, see alternatives, and arrive at more accurate, mature decisions. This is where the formula 1 + 1 = 11 comes into play. It’s not just about adding efforts; it's about multiplying them.

The question isn’t whether you can handle things on your own. The question is: why would you want to? Why carry everything alone when, with a strong partner, you can cover the distance many times faster, easier, and more powerfully?

To find such partners, you must first understand yourself—honestly realize your strengths and know your weaknesses. Then, look for people who don't just feel convenient, but who strengthen you, complement you, and fill your gaps. This requires maturity, empathy, emotional intelligence, and, most importantly, the ability to build deep communication. Real, sustainable partnerships are built on mutual understanding, respect, and complementarity.

3. Decide Quickly; Any Decision Made Is the Right One

This thesis comes from a hard-won experience, highlighted for me by the entrepreneur Timur Turlov. He once said a simple thing: any decision you have made is already the right one. At first, I didn't understand. Then, I understood completely.

The problem of choice constantly haunts us, from the trivial (what to eat) to the agonizing (what direction to take in business). The more important the choice, the more torment it brings: analysis, doubt, internal vacillation. In the end, we drain enormous energy, our self-esteem drops, and burnout creeps in. All of this hits harder than any single mistake we could have made.

In reality, the statistics are simple. If you look at all the decisions we make in life over the long term, the outcome will be roughly 50/50—half successful, half not. We cannot significantly influence this ratio. But we can influence the quantity. The more decisions we make, the more right ones there will be. It’s like flipping a coin: the more you flip it, the more heads you’ll get, simply because the number of attempts has increased.

The main conclusion: don't hesitate. Decide faster. In this case, the speed of decision-making is more important than its accuracy. If you make a mistake, no big deal. You quickly realize it, correct course, and move on. This is what growth actually looks like: not guessing correctly, but constantly testing hypotheses.

Here is how this works in practice. Imagine deciding whether to open a store in a new city. Ask yourself two simple questions:

1. Do I have enough data to make a decision (information on demand, competition, etc.)? If not, gather more.
2. Do we have the resources that we can risk, where a failure would not collapse the entire business?

If the answer to both is yes, then do it. The decision is made in a minute, not a month of agonizing. The only thing worse than a mistake is endless doubt.

4. Stop the Frantic Activity

The principles of being open, experimenting, and making quick decisions have a flip side. It is very easy to confuse productive experimentation with mere fuss, and speed with chaos. You start grabbing at everything that moves, agreeing to any project just to be in motion. It feels like you're working, active, and accomplished. But in reality, it is often just a drain of resources.

Herein lies the danger. When life finally presents a truly great opportunity, you are simply not in shape. You have no strength, no focus—everything has been spent. This has happened to me more than once. I took on everything, and when truly big doors opened, I lacked the resources to walk through them. It was deeply disappointing.

The conclusion: it is vital not to confuse real activity with the imitation of frantic activity. To filter one from the other, ask yourself three simple questions:

1. What am I doing right now?
2. Why am I doing it?
3. Does this really lead me to my goal?

If you cannot answer "Yes" to the third question, it's all fuss. Postpone it, delegate it, or refuse it. By asking these questions at the start, you may spend a little more time on analysis, but you will stop draining months of your life on things that are not yours and lead nowhere. You don't have to succeed at everything. The main thing is to be focused when your real chance appears.

5. Health is Everything

Yes, it sounds banal. But as is often the case with banalities, its truth truly sinks in only when it is already a little late. Health determines how you feel in this life—whether you want to get up in the morning, move, and enjoy what’s happening, or whether you are just dragging yourself along by inertia.

It happens unexpectedly. At some point, you start sleeping worse. You recover more slowly after workouts. Your mind works slower. Where you once made a decision in a second, there is now fog, a lack of focus, and eternal procrastination. And then you realize: all of this could have been foreseen.

Everything we’ve talked about today—partnerships, actions, decisions, energy—it all falls apart if you are out of resources. If the body is drained, if you wake up already tired, if hormones are in disarray, and you are pushing through everything with sheer willpower. The honest conclusion is this: if there is no health, everything else is meaningless.

If I could give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be about this. I would integrate sports into my life much earlier, not as an obligation but as a lifestyle, with the long-term goal of feeling good at 50 and 60. I would stop ignoring injuries; what seems minor when you're young is simply deferred, only to return at the most inconvenient moment. And I would prioritize regular health check-ups to catch malfunctions early.

Finally, digital hygiene. I sometimes catch myself before bed having wasted an hour on meaningless content that clutters the mind. I sleep worse, wake up sluggish, and fill a void with useless actions instead of simply turning off the phone, lying in silence, and allowing myself to truly rest.

This is the basis. Health is not just another task on the list. It is the foundation without which everything else crumbles. It is never too early to start taking care of yourself, but it is very easy to be too late.

Suggested Reading

• Taleb, N. N. (2012). Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder. Random House.
  This work supports the first principle that rigid plans are fragile in a world of uncertainty. Taleb argues for creating systems and lifestyles that don't just resist shocks but actually benefit from them. Instead of trying to predict the future, one should build robustness and optionality, which aligns with the idea of increasing probabilities through experimentation rather than sticking to a fixed plan.
• Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
  This book provides the cognitive science behind the third principle on rapid decision-making. Kahneman explains the two systems of thought: the fast, intuitive "System 1" and the slow, deliberate "System 2." While "System 2" is necessary for complex analysis, over-reliance on it can lead to "analysis paralysis." The principle of making quick decisions leverages an informed "System 1" and accepts that waiting for perfect information is often more costly than making a reversible mistake. (See Part I: Two Systems).
• Grant, A. (2013). Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success. Viking Press.
  Grant’s research provides a strong foundation for the second principle on partnerships. He categorizes people into "givers," "takers," and "matchers," demonstrating that the most successful individuals and organizations are often driven by a "giver" mentality that fosters collaboration and trust. This directly relates to the idea that strong, complementary partnerships are built on mutual respect and are a multiplier for success, rather than a zero-sum game. (See Chapter 4: Finding the Diamond in the Rough).