Success or Happiness? Choose one.
Or find ways to have both. Key word: experiences.
After Jeph told me about the Hedonic Treadmill and I read more about it (see the last article in the Article List), my mind went to Naval Ravinkant. BTW follow him on Twitter and listen to his podcast, Naval speaks gems! The Hedonic Treadmill is basically this- you chase money hoping to buy that Mercedes because you think it’ll make you happy. You buy it and drive it for two weeks and it’s become normal. Then you’re back to stage 1 where you’re looking for more money to buy a Range Rover, then you get it, drive for another 2 weeks, get bored and think of buying a Porsche and again and again till you’re chasing money to buy a private jet. Cycle always repeats; we’re always looking for more. But on a more serious note, a private jet won’t be bad, you know 😂😂.
Anyway, these are some notes I took from a couple of his episodes around building wealth.
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Success or wealth, that’s a contradiction that we all deal with. That we all want to be successful people, but we also want to be happy people. The two of those run in almost diametric opposites to each other. If you look at all the new wisdom, the new wisdom is if you walk into an airport bookstore and you open up Time Magazine, it’s all about you must be like Elon Musk or Larry Page; it’s all about success, success, success. Or in Africa’s case, Aliko Dangote or Strive Masiyiwa. Because we live in this mythology of anyone can achieve the American dream, and if you’re not successful, if you’re not Tim Ferriss, then you’re a loser.
There’s always someone higher up the stack. So the success driven mentality drives you to unhappiness and if you want to be successful, surround yourself with people who are more successful than you are. But if you want to be happy, surround yourself with people who are less successful than you are. So this is the contradiction that we deal with all day long because we’re also told that the American dream will bring you happiness, and it will not. I think a lot of us learn as we get older that happiness is internal. Happiness is a choice that you make and a skill that you develop, and so how do you do that? And that’s the fundamental contradiction. And a lot of happiness is just being present. to live in the present moment is the highest calling; its the source of all happiness.
Long story short, value experiences over material things and your quality of life would shoot up exponentially.
Article List— What I’m reading
Iyin Aboyeji: Ecosystems are more powerful than empires: Published by Iyin 5 years ago. Very different founder then but he’s remained consistent in his message. Makes me wonder who the ecosystem builders are here in Ghana…or do we even have an ecosystem? Loved reading every bit of it and agree for the most part with him, even though I see a bit of Jason in myself tbh. But doing this is one way to give back, and that was validated by one friend (who I’ve written about and would be my first angel investment) by a comment he sent me today. Would share his feedback in another post.
Andela is overhauling its outsourcing model in Africa—and letting go of up to 400 developers: I hope you see how Andela is gonna make bank from this. And if you’re looking for well-trained software developers, please go out and hire these guys…BUT make sure you don’t ignore your senior developers because Andela is coming for them too.
WeWork Delays I.P.O. After Chilly Reception From Investors: WeWait 😂😂😂😂. And like I been saying, throw this company away 🗑. But not sure what’s fundamentally going to change about the company in the last quarter. They tried putting some nonsense bandages on their problems and clearly didn’t work. And the company would have to go public at some point. They’d probably need to get Adam out before any more moves to the public markets can happen. Like I said before, Adam is not Jeff or Steve. Let’s see how this plays out.
Casper Dreams of Being Bigger Than Mattresses: Casper doesn't want to just be a direct-to-consumer mattress startup anymore. Instead, it's trying to be "the Nike of sleep."
The Inside Story Of How Michael Jordan And Four Other NBA Owners Launched The Super-Premium Tequila Brand Cincoro: Who’s trying to start a drinks brand with me sha? After George Clooney’s 1B$ exit, I need to enter this business.
SoftBank Backers Rethink Role in Next Vision Fund on WeWork: The kind of problems you have when you raise too much money.
40 Favorite Interview Questions from Some of the Sharpest Folks We Know: I might just sit down one day and ask myself all these questions one day to see where my mind is at. My favorite interview question is “What is 100 divided by 3?” You’d be surprised at the answers you get. Copped that from Mark Essien.
What Is The ‘Hedonic Treadmill’?: You think that Benz would make you happy? Think again.
Podcast— What I’m listening to
Naval- CEO of Angel List, avid reader, angel in more than 100 companies and one person who loves his happiness. Listen to an episode about him here on the Knowledge Project. And listen to Naval (the podcast) as well to find more tips on wealth and happiness.
Book—What I’m reading x2. My book list is nearing 1000 books. Send help 🌚
Still on Elon. I must admit, I’ve taken my sweet time with this book. Really need to sit down and finish it up.
Favorite part from what I last read: “He (Elon) gave a speech, saying we would work on Saturdays and Sundays and sleep under desks till it got done. Someone pushed back from the table and argued that they were ready for a break and to see their families. Elon said ‘I would tell those people they will get to se their families a lot when we go bankrupt.’” This man has no filter. 😂😂
Remember folks: “Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter.”
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