So, I'm in Spain right now, spending

some days with the family, and I've had

some time to think and reflect. And I

thought I'd put together a list of my

fundamentals, basically my guiding

principles which I use in business and

in life. And I thought I'd share them

with you, because I think there's value

in hearing how other people think about

these things. Not because I've got it

all figured out, but because my point of

view maybe resonates with you. Who

knows? Quick bit of context, if you're

new here, my name is Axel. I'm

originally from Spain. I've been living

in the UK since 2008. I founded a

company 10 years ago called Circle

Cloud. It's a telecom service company.

And now I'm working on We UC, which is a

telecom software company, and we're

planning on launching that as a SaaS

very soon. So, I've been building for

over a decade, and everything I'm about

to share comes from that experience.

These principles aren't for everyone.

They're what works for me. But if the

rationale behind them feels right to

you, then maybe they'll work for you,

too. Right. Let's get to it. Principle

one.

Love what you do. This is the foundation

for everything else. I genuinely believe

that the only way to do great work is to

love what you do. Because building

something, a company, a product,

anything worthwhile is incredibly hard.

There's so many moments where a normal,

sane person would [music] just quit, cuz

they're sane. The only people who push

through those moments are the ones who

actually love the work itself. Not the

money, not the status, the work. Steve

Jobs said it well, "The only way to do

great work is to love what you do." And

he also said the people who are crazy

enough to think that they can change the

world ones who actually do. I think

that's bang on. You've got to love it.

And here's the thing, if you do great

work, money follows. Not immediately,

not always when you want it to, but it

does follow. The mistake is chasing the

money first and hoping that the quality

comes later. It doesn't work that way.

Principle two. Keep your word. There's

something that I heard Tony Montana say

that goes, "All I have in this world is

my word and my balls, and I don't break

them for no one." And that resonated

with me. You have to keep your word. If

you're saying you're going to do

something, do it. Doesn't matter how

small it is. If you say you're going to

call on Tuesday, call on Tuesday. People

remember when you follow through, and

they absolutely remember when you don't.

I stay true to my word. It's

non-negotiable. Your reputation is built

one [music] kept promise at a time.

Principle three. Do the right thing.

This one sounds obvious, but you'd be

surprised at how many people ignore it.

Because doing the right thing often

means doing the harder thing or the

slower thing, the less profitable thing

in the short term. I've watched people

cut corners before because they could

see a quick win. But that quick quick

win sometimes meant hurting someone or

doing something ethically gray, or just

going down a path that bypassed lessons

that you actually needed to learn. Don't

take the shortcut, even if it takes you

three times longer to get to where you

need to go. You'll get there with your

integrity intact, and that matters more

than speed.

Principle four. Be patient, but

relentlessly persistent. There's this

old saying that says a woodpecker can

peck a thousand times on a thousand

different trees and get nothing. Or he

could peck a thousand times on one tree

and get thinner. I love that because

it's exactly the same as how building a

business works. You pick a thing, you

commit to it, and you keep going. Most

things take longer than you expect, and

that's fine. Keep going. Don't jump to

the next idea every time things get

hard. The people who stay the course are

normally the ones that end up breaking

through.

Principle five. Ask for the order. Don't

be shy. Ask for what you want. I've lost

deals because I simply didn't ask for

the order. I was just waiting for the

customer to ask to move to the next

steps, and they didn't. Sales isn't just

about building relationships. You have

to at some point say, "Let's do this."

And that's it. Assume you have the

order, and that's the bit that so many

sales people avoid. And it's the same

outside of sales. You know, if you want

something, a meeting, an introduction, a

favor, just ask. If you don't ask, you

don't get. It's really simple.

Principle six. Mueve el culo. Move your

ass. This one's related, but different.

Don't wait for things to come to you.

Some companies build their whole model

on referrals and word of mouth, which is

fine, but also I think you need to go

and get business. You know, pick up the

phone, move, go places, meet people, be

proactive. The phone isn't just going to

ring itself, and the opportunities don't

land in your lap. You have to go out and

create them.

Principle seven. Set unrealistic

deadlines. I set deadlines for myself

for everything, and I set them

optimistically on purpose. Here's why.

If you give yourself a tight amount of

time to complete something in, it forces

you to focus. If you give yourself two

weeks to do something, it will take two

weeks. But if you give yourself five

days, it will force you to focus and get

it done within five days, or at least

try to. It forces that creativity. It

forces you to find a way to get it done

within five days. Many of my projects

have overrun, and that's fine. I don't

get frustrated by it. The deadline's not

there to punish me. It's there to create

urgency. Without a deadline, things

drift, and drifting is what ends up

killing most projects.

Principle eight. Think bigger. However

big you're thinking, think bigger.

Whenever I come up with an idea or a

goal, I ask myself, "Can we do 10 times

this? Can we make it bigger, better,

bolder?" That doesn't mean that every

idea needs to be massive. It just means

that you need to test the ceiling before

you accept the floor. Most people set

goals based on what feels safe. Safe

goals produce safe results. You should

push the number. You can always scale

back. If the idea doesn't scare you a

little bit, it means you're not pushing

enough out of your comfort zone.

And that brings us to principle nine.

Get out of your comfort zone. Your

comfort zone is your limiting zone.

Every significant thing that I've done,

the first cold call, hiring the first

employee, stepping back from the company

I built, doing videos like this, felt

uncomfortable at the time. But

discomfort wasn't a warning. It was a

signal that [music] it mattered. If

you're not regularly doing things that

make you feel uncomfortable, you're not

growing. It's that simple. Push yourself

out of your comfortable space. That's

where progress lives.

Principle 10. Action trumps inaction.

Act. Stop thinking about it.

Overthinking or paralysis by analysis

kills more progress than bad decisions

ever will. There's a real cost to

inaction. A wrong decision gives you

information. You learn. You correct. You

move forward. No decisions gives you

nothing. You're just stuck. I'd rather

make a move and get it wrong than sit

and analyze until the moment passes.

Don't overthink it. Move. If you got it

wrong, you'll figure it out, but you

have to move first.

Principle 11. Follow your gut. They say

your gut is your second brain. There's

real science behind that. You've

actually got neurons in your gut, and

that's what people call the gut feeling.

I think it's how you connect your

conscious mind with your subconscious.

In so many decisions in business and in

life, I've made them when they feel

right, [music] not when the spreadsheet

told me to act. Our brains are way more

powerful than we give credit for, and I

believe your gut is that gateway for

that deeper level of intelligence, your

intuition. And I trust my gut on every

major decision. It's worked well so far.

Principle 12. Don't trust anyone. My

father always used to say to me that his

mother used to say, "Not fies ni de la

teva [music] mare." And that basically

means don't even trust your mother.

Sounds extreme, and it probably is

extreme, [music] but the principle

behind it is sound. Be careful with

people, especially when money's

involved. I've seen people do surprising

things when the stakes are high. [music]

People I thought were solid before. So,

trust, but with limits. Don't trust

anyone 100%.

Principle 13. Hire based [music] on

attitude. When I'm hiring, attitude

beats skill every time. Skills can

[music] be taught. People can learn a

system or process tool, but attitude,

which is based on their perception of

life, determines how they show up, how

they handle pressure, whether they

actually care or not. All of that is

based on how they see the world, and you

can't teach that. It's who they are.

I've learned this the hard way. I've

hired people who had great CVs, but just

didn't have the right attitude. And I've

hired people with little experience, but

with the right attitude, that have

turned out to be great because they

genuinely wanted to learn and improve.

So, find people who care. Teach them the

[music] rest.

Principle 14. Learn to delegate. This

one's hard, really [music] hard. I

founded Circle Cloud from nothing, and I

did the telemarketing, the sales, the

engineering, the customer service, the

billing, everything myself. But in order

to grow the business, I had to step

back. I had to hire a customer service

manager, I had to hire an operations

manager, a sales manager, and eventually

a board of directors and a CEO. I moved

to chairman, and the business operates

without me pretty much these days. For a

founder, letting go feels like losing

control, but it's the opposite. It's

gaining freedom. And I believe your

leadership team needs to be genuinely

invested. The only way I figured out to

make your key people feel like owners in

the business is through equity. Give

them a minority stake, something that

aligns their incentives with the

long-term success of the business, not

just a salary. Never give away control

of the business, but give them something

to care about.

Principle 15. Empathy is your

superpower. This one's underrated. Being

able to see things from somebody else's

perspective, understanding how they

actually feel in a situation, not just

how you think they should feel, that

gives you a real edge. It changes how

you lead, how you sell, how you handle

conflict, everything. Most people listen

to respond. Very few listen to

understand, and there's a massive

difference.

Principle 16. Make time to think. I have

a policy, no meetings before 11:00 a.m.

unless it's completely necessary. The

morning is when my brain is at its

sharpest. That's when I think, plan, and

work on the hardest problems. Most

people fill their mornings with

meetings, emails, other people's

agendas. And by lunchtime, they've spent

the most cognitive hours on things that

could have waited. I use my mornings to

putter, to think about the business

direction, company structure, or

whatever the biggest challenges are.

Sometimes I don't produce anything

visible, but that thinking compounds.

Spend time alone. Ruminate. Let your

mind work through the hard stuff before

the day takes over.

Principle 17. One thing at a time. When

your to-do list is like a mile long, and

everything feels urgent, the worst thing

you can do is to try to deal with

everything at once. So, one thing at a

time. That's it. Give your full

attention to the thing that's in front

of you. Finish it, or get to the point

that you can move on, and then, only

then, shift to the next thing. This

isn't about productivity. It's about

preventing overwhelm. When you try and

hold 10 problems in your head at the

same time, your stress levels go through

the roof, and your output actually

drops. So, deal with one thing, and then

the next. This sounds too simple to

work, but uh trust me, it does.

Principle 18. Focus on the signal. Every

day, there's noise. Emails, messages,

requests, small fires. Most of the

things can wait. The signal is the one

or two things that you need to get done

that day that actually matter, that

actually move the needle. Everything

else is noise, and the hard part isn't

ignoring the stuff that you don't want

to do. It's actually ignoring the stuff

that you really do want to do. There's a

story about Steve Jobs that Jony Ive

told. He said that Steve used to come

into his design studio and ask him every

day, "What have you said no [music] to?"

And when Jony listed a few things that

he said no to, Steve knew that Jony

wasn't even remotely interested in doing

those things anyway. That's not focus.

Focus is about saying no to ideas that

every inch in your body wants to do, but

you say no to them because the signal

what you're working on now matters more.

I heard that the only person that has a

higher signal-to-noise ratio than Steve

Jobs did is probably Elon Musk. His

signal-to-noise ratio is probably 90%

signal, 10% noise, or even higher. So,

increase the signal-to-noise ratio. Say

no to everything that isn't the main

thing, and do the main thing until it's

done.

Principle 19, the 80/20 rule.

When you're deciding what to work on, do

the work that's going to produce the

majority of the results first. That's

the Pareto principle. Roughly 80% of

your results will come from 20% of your

effort. So, when you're prioritizing,

ask yourself, "What's the thing that

will get me the biggest results in the

shortest amount of time?" Start there

because that early progress gives you

momentum. It gives you a feeling of

accomplishment that you can carry

forward, either onto the next task or to

keep pushing on the one you're on. Most

people spread their effort evenly across

everything. Don't. Find the 20% that

produces the 80% of the output. Hit that

first, and then reassess.

Principle 20, prioritize sleep. I think

sleep is the most underrated performance

tool that there is. I aim for 7 and 1/2

hours sleep every night. I don't always

hit it, but I know the difference it

makes. Everything goes worse when you're

underslept. Your decisions, your mood,

your clarity, even your ability to deal

with stress, everything. And it's not

just how I feel about it. The data backs

it up. Sleep deprivation has been shown

to decrease cognitive function by the

same level as having a few drinks, and

that's not a small thing. I've learned

to treat sleep as infrastructure, not a

reward for finishing work, not something

I sacrifice to get more done. It's the

thing that makes everything else

possible.

Principle 21, eat well. This one's

straightforward. Eat good food, cut out

the processed stuff, don't overeat,

that's the one I struggle with, and

don't eat within 4 hours of bed. That

one's been massive for me. Eating late

wrecks your sleep quality, and then

everything cascades downhill from there.

I'm not extreme about diet. I don't

follow a particular plan. I just try to

eat real food, reasonable amounts, and

give my body enough time to digest

before I sleep. It's simple, but the

impact on how I feel day-to-day has been

huge.

Principle 22, train every day. I try to

lift weights at least 5 days a week.

Ideally, I try to do something every

single day, even if it's a light

session. I'm not perfect at this. Travel

throws me off, bad sleep throws me off,

but I'm working on making this

non-negotiable because when I'm

consistent with training, everything

else improves. My energy, my focus, my

resilience, my mood, and my sleep. Your

body is your engine for everything else.

If the engine isn't looked after,

nothing else runs properly.

Principle 23, stop drinking alcohol.

Alcohol is a trap, and I say that from

experience. A few years ago, I read a

book called This Naked Mind, and it made

me think about something simple. We were

all happy as kids without drinking any

alcohol. So, why do we need alcohol now

to be happy? The answer is we don't. We

just habituated to it. I stopped

drinking for over a year, and then on

holiday, my wife said, "Come on, have a

beer with me. Just one." And I thought,

okay, just one won't hurt. And then

eventually, I got out of drinking again,

more and more, uh until I was drinking

pretty much daily. January this year, I

stopped again, and so far, it's been a

couple of months, and I feel great. Not

drinking again has improved my sleep,

has improved my mood, has improved my

clarity, my productivity, everything.

There's one thing on this list that's

made the biggest difference for me

personally recently, and it's probably

this one.

Principle 24, practice gratitude. I have

a lot already, more than I sometimes

realize, more than I ever imagined as a

kid. And sometimes, I take for granted

more than I should. But when I actually

stop and remind myself of what I have,

where I am, who I'm with, what I've

built, I feel genuinely happy.

Not in a forced way, but in a real way.

It's easy to always be chasing the next

[music] thing.

Gratitude is the counterbalance. It's

what stops ambition becoming a

treadmill.

Principle 25, embrace being different

and don't care what other people think.

Last one.

Everyone is different. Embrace what

makes you different. There's nobody out

there like you or like me, which makes

it pointless to compare your life to

somebody else's. I think we've fallen

into this trap because of social media.

We see other people's highlight reels,

and we feel that we're behind. But

you're not behind. You're on your own

path, and the freedom that comes with

this, genuinely accepting this, is

enormous. So, stop caring so much about

what other people think. We're only here

for a short amount of time anyway.

Everyone's busy with their own lives.

They're not thinking about you and your

life anywhere near as much as you think.

I used to care a lot more than I do now,

and that freedom has changed how I make

decisions, how I work, and how I live.

So, these are my guiding principles, 25

things that I keep coming back to,

especially when I need to make a

decision that's important or when things

get tough. I'm not perfect at all of

them. Some I've followed for years, and

some I'm still working on. But having

them clear in my head, and now having

them on video, helps. If you want to go

deeper into how I structure my days and

my decision-making and thinking, I've

put together something called the

founders and CEO operating system. It's

free. Just check the link in the

description.

Thanks for watching. I hope it was

useful. See you in the next one.