A multitude of individuals possess remarkably lofty aspirations. They observe issues in society and conceive potential remedies. They aspire to assist others and render service for the years ahead. As a chubby, middle-class youth from Tacoma, Washington, I was not among these individuals. I recognized two undeniable truths about my future: I would one day be wealthy, and I would one day attain six-pack abs. I lacked a clear strategy for achieving either aspiration, but they served as my guiding lights.
Eventually, I realized those goals, but reaching them necessitated a complete shift in my priorities. Additionally, it involved an extensive amount of hardship along the journey.
A Fool’s Priorities
For years, I pursued wealth. Growing up during the ’80s, becoming rich epitomized the American Dream for me. Most of the individuals I knew aspired to wealth. A handful made it an actual focus, yet it lingered in the recesses of their minds as a desirable outcome. The notion of amassing riches is akin to the siren song that led sailors to disaster in Homer’s The Odyssey. It’s an alluring concept, but pursuing wealth solely for its own sake is a guaranteed path to emotional bankruptcy.
Acquiring wealth is challenging. There are no shortcuts to success. You must work incredibly hard. You’re required to commit entirely to a venture. You must create something of such value that individuals willingly exchange their hard-earned cash for it, demanding immense dedication and effort. So when that siren lures you with visions of opulent homes, speedy cars, and luxury yachts, remember that the rocks are years spent laboring tirelessly for an ambiguous outcome. At some stage, while toiling for wealth, you will question yourself, Is this truly worth it? The response will likely be negative. Because the financial reward is uncertain, but the struggle for it is definite.
If countless individuals have met failure on the shores of uncertain success, why don’t more people emulate Odysseus by securing themselves to the mast to resist money’s enchanting call? The explanation is straightforward: The allure of money is genuinely potent.
Money is incredible. Accumulating wealth can transform your life in numerous ways, both significant and minor. It’s astonishing. It can even surpass your expectations. However, it’s not at all what you’ve been led to believe. Tragically, like many before me, I had to discover that truth the hard way.
The Wrong Game
I experienced the well-known adage that “money can’t buy happiness.” Eight-and-a-half years into my entrepreneurial journey, I was a co-owner of a tech firm and held an executive position. I was earning more than I had ever before, yet I was utterly miserable. As Tony Robbins expresses, “Success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure.” That was precisely my situation.
I had been engaged in the wrong pursuit. The pursuit I believed I ought to embark upon was wealth accumulation. In truth, the only pursuit that genuinely matters is maintaining healthy brain chemistry. The comedian Jim Carrey famously remarked, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”
With Carrey and Robbins echoing in my thoughts, I started to ponder: I wish to enjoy today. I no longer want to live for a distant day that may never materialize—where I am wealthy and finally have self-worth.
This is the misunderstanding that many have regarding money and even success: You can possess an abundance of both and still be dissatisfied with your existence.
The True Oldest Profession
Humanity has pursued wealth throughout history. Like many other pursuits in life, individuals chase it without a complete grasp of what compels them. I aspired to wealth because observing affluent individuals filled me with admiration and envy. I made the error of equating wealth with joy or, even more misguidedly, with fulfillment.
Money serves as a significant enabler. It facilitates actions. It can create educational institutions, procure better medical care, fund entrepreneurial ventures, and afford vacations. It can purchase superior homes, enhanced vehicles, and launch spacecraft into orbit. This is precisely why it will perpetually remain an object of universal fixation. It can indeed accomplish those tasks and much more.
However, despite its immense power, money cannot alter your perception of yourself. That’s where so many individuals err. They crave power. They desire to be regarded highly. They wish to be admired, but most importantly, they long to admire themselves. Yet money cannot change your self-perception. Your insecurities will persist even in wealth. If you lack pride in your identity, wealth won’t change that. If you don’t possess self-belief, money will let you down as well.
No matter how hard you strive, financial success is not assured. You could launch multiple ventures and experience failure at every turn. Realizing this led me to walk away from it all. I approached my partners, returned their shares, and departed. My intention was to minimize my outgoings as much as possible, relocate to Greece with my spouse, continue mastering the language, and write—one of the activities that has consistently made me feel the most alive.
As I drove home after resigning, I felt an immense burden lift off my shoulders. I had been so unhappy for years that I had forgotten what it felt like to anticipate the future with excitement. Yet, I never reached Greece. I didn’t even arrive home before a phone call altered my life’s trajectory.
Doing It the Right Way
The call was from my business partners. They extended an invitation for dinner. They expressed, “We could proceed without you, but we prefer not to.” Those words shifted my perspective, linking me to something beyond the relentless pursuit of wealth; they drew me closer to a sense of brotherhood.
I came to realize that this brotherhood held more significance to me than the enterprise. It dawned on me that I had been undermining my true values while relentlessly chasing after money, which was the true source of my distress. And it was deeply distressing. Therefore, I laid everything bare before them. If we were to continue our collaboration, we required a redefined set of priorities. We needed to devise a way to create something birthed from passion—something we would love engaging with daily, regardless of success. Ultimately, we decided to sell the technology firm and embark on a new venture.
This new venture became Quest Nutrition, and we built it upon the principle of delivering value to people’s lives. We pledged to one another that we would no longer let monetary gains dictate our actions. Instead, we would pose a straightforward question: What creates the most value for our customers and employees? The intriguing twist is that once we shifted our focus from monetary gain to adding value to people’s lives, we naturally generated wealth. We attained the No. 2 spot on the Inc. 500 list and achieved a valuation exceeding $1 billion. Remarkably, Quest has generated more in a single day than our previous company earned in an entire year. Best of all, we were enjoying ourselves.
New Priorities
Even though the chase for monetary gain had started to diminish my essence, it became painfully clear that learning to think and act like an entrepreneur was the most significant transformation of my life. I transitioned from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. If you’ve seen the film The Matrix, you understand what I mean when I claim I took the red pill. I awakened to the true nature of existence. I no longer perceived my abilities and intellect as static attributes; I recognized that my brain had the capacity for tremendous adaptation. I understood that humans are the most adaptive organisms the world has ever known. Therefore, I could prevail at whatever I chose to pursue. I let go of the false beliefs that had restrained me. I stopped believing I fell short and recognized that I was merely not proficient yet.
Authentically being myself empowers me to achieve the kind of success I envisioned as a child. My priorities now encompass camaraderie, providing value to others, tackling significant issues, enjoying myself, following my passion, achieving mastery, and only then pursuing profit. Now that I comprehend what inspires me, what invigorates my spirit, and how I can monetize serving others, I have never experienced more joy or felt a deeper sense of fulfillment. While some days may still feel overwhelmingly challenging, it’s manageable because I am aware of what I am striving for.
As Viktor Frankl, the esteemed neurologist and concentration camp survivor, articulated so profoundly in his book Man’s Search for Meaning, when you understand the purpose behind your suffering, you can withstand nearly anything. Once I grasped that money serves poorly as a reason for existence, I shifted that focus toward acquiring valuable skills and applying them toward a cause greater than myself. Only then did I discover that I could exert incredible effort, harder than I had ever done, while genuinely enjoying and relishing my life.
Know Thyself
There isn’t a singular route to achieving success. My experience is merely one of countless narratives of individuals who have found what works for them. I don’t believe the particulars of my journey are paramount; rather, the essential lesson I hope you derive from my struggles is that you can insist on not only reaching the pinnacle of success but also enjoying the process of creation. There shouldn’t be discord between your truest self and developing a successful enterprise. We exist in a time when traits such as authenticity and transparency hold utmost importance. Identify what brings you to life. Discover how you can provide immense value to others. Keep in mind that enjoyment is a vital component of the journey and always challenge yourself to improve. Do that, and financial gain will follow. However, if you desire six-pack abs, suffering is still necessary. But that, my friend, is an entirely different discussion.
