The Three S's of Success
Pair deliberate sacrifice with sufficient sleep to sustain achievement
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 90%
The Three S's of Success links sacrifice, sleep, and success as a sequence rather than treating achievement as a visible result without a cost. First define the outcome and acknowledge the activities, practice, travel, or leisure that must be traded for it. McCormick argues that people celebrate success while overlooking those costs. The second component corrects his own earlier extreme: he achieved results on three to four hours of sleep but later accepted that sleep improves clear thinking and health. The framework therefore asks for deliberate sacrifice, not indiscriminate deprivation. Remove lower-value distractions, preserve the effort the goal requires, and protect sufficient sleep to sustain judgment and physical capacity. Review the trade-off continuously so temporary intensity does not become a damaging identity.
Origin
McCormick presents sacrifice, sleep, and success as the three S's, using LeBron James to illustrate hidden trade-offs and his own shift from three or four hours of sleep to about six.
Core principles
- 01Meaningful achievement requires real trade-offs
- 02Entertainment cannot consume the time reserved for goals
- 03Sleep improves thinking and health
- 04Sacrifice without recovery eventually limits performance
How to run it
- 1
Define success
Specify the result you are pursuing and the recurring effort it actually demands.
Pro tip Name observable practices, not only the desired outcome.
- 2
Expose the trade-offs
List what time, comfort, entertainment, or convenience must give way to the required practice.
Watch out Do not hide health or essential relationship damage under the word sacrifice.
- 3
Choose sacrifices deliberately
Remove lower-value activities that conflict directly with the goal instead of cutting everything indiscriminately.
Pro tip Start with passive entertainment that contributes to neither recovery nor the goal.
- 4
Protect recovery
Set a sleep level that supports clear thinking, health, and repeatable performance.
Pro tip Judge sleep by daytime function and health, not bravado.
Watch out Chronic sleep restriction can make effort less effective even when work hours rise.
- 5
Audit sustainability
Review whether the chosen sacrifices and sleep pattern continue to support the desired performance.
In the wild
McCormick built success while sleeping three to four hours and had convinced himself sleep was unimportant. He later accepted that sleep helped him think more clearly and improved his health, settling at roughly six hours for himself.
→ Recovery became part of his performance model rather than an obstacle to it.
Common mistakes
Celebrating only the result
Ignoring the sacrifices behind success creates unrealistic expectations about the work required.
Sacrificing sleep first
Removing recovery while preserving low-value distractions undermines thinking, health, and sustained output.
Is it for you?
Best for
Ambitious people who either avoid necessary sacrifices or sacrifice sleep as their default strategy.
Not ideal for
Anyone using achievement language to justify chronic sleep deprivation, damaged health, or neglected essential relationships.
From the transcript
“you will have to make some sacrifices in life in order to achieve success”
“sleep definitely helps you go next level it helps you think more clearly it helps with your health”
From the episode
JT McCormick: Rise Against All Odds
JT McCormick