Achieving True Success/happiness: A Mindful Journey of Purpose, Hard Work, and Collaboration
Success, like happiness is a byproduct of a journey, not a destination.
We often hear stories of overnight success and the overnight riches of the wealthy and powerful, but the truth is that true success is a long and winding road that takes hard work, dedication, and a clear sense of purpose. In the past, it would typically take a minimum of 10-20 years to achieve success, but with the advancements in technology and the interconnectedness of our world, it may now only take 3-5 years.
Last week, we covered the importance of being mindful in decision making and how this can help us to achieve our goals. But what do we decide on, in order to make tonnes of money? The reality is that many of the millionaires and billionaires we hear about are "paper" rich, meaning that much of their wealth is tied up in assets or shares of a company that are worth billions on paper, but may not necessarily translate to cash in hand, thus such 'wealth' can be lost overnight.
Additionally, it's worth noting that many of the people who get caught in financial scandals, such as those at SBF of FTX or Madoff, are those who have not made mindful decisions and allowed themselves to be swept up in the pursuit of wealth without considering the consequences (although with technology, & mindless support by social & traditional media SBF managed major billion damage across many more fields in record time! that is worth another post)
The byproduct of success typically multiplies exponentially when we take in knowledge, experiences, and perspectives from multiple countries, cultures, and industries. From products and services to creative industries, we see that those who are truly successful often love to self-challenge and dabble in different fields in order to learn and grow. Steve Jobs, for example, was well known for his experimentation with perfection of design to meditation and psychedelic (with major career challenges). Likewise, many musicians have also been known to glorify the use of psychedelics, but that is another topic for another post.
This week, I would like to explore how to maximize our chances of success. One of the hot topics in recent months has been the rise of generative AI and its potential applications. But like the invention of the steam engine or the petrol engine, it's not the technology itself that is exciting, but the applications of it. The steam engine and petrol engine were not just exciting for their own sake, but because they allowed for the creation of cars, ships, and planes that transformed the way we move and conduct commerce.
Similarly, the potential applications of generative AI may have the power to transform various industries, but it's important to remember that the unintended consequences of past technologies, such as the environmental impact of fossil fuels, remind us to be mindful of the impact of our actions on the planet and society.
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The World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos is finishing this week, and thousands of people are joining, but it's likely that the key 0.1% of the 1% who hold great wealth and power will be the ones giving the good talks and having hundreds of hours of meetings. No doubt, there will be many reports of the great work done, or more work to be done, but as the farmers in the old days of the Chinese dynasties knew, life goes on, and people just have to live their own lives.
Except this is 2023, and you don't have to rely on the elite to make a difference. By getting to know the issues of your local world/ industries, there are things you can do to make a positive impact. By getting to know the challenges you face and trying to solve them, you can create a side product or service, or spend time dreaming up & unleashing a MVP solution to the world tomorrow.
2023 is also first year that we have many well educated, technologists that had been and will be laid off by tech giants, I sincerely hope they had saved enough or indeed had great severance package (& healthcare!), although I heard EvLon not wanting to pay up. . our thoughts are with you guys and your families (Ontop of challenges of all those in war torn countries not only in Ukraine but it is only ranked number 10 on the IRC list of top 10 world crisis, this is must read!) . This may in fact be opportunities for them and our world if they can help create firms/initiatives that can help with fix our world?
Here are some key steps you can take to achieve success on your own terms:
Real success is a journey, and it comes from having a clear and meaningful goal, putting in the hard work, and collaborating with others to achieve it. In music, the Beatles were successful not just because they recorded at Abbey Road Studio, but because they worked hard and put in the time and effort to hone their craft, write great songs, and perform live.
Similarly, in any field: Success, like happiness is a byproduct of a journey, not a destination.
Let's get together in 2023 and we can create a not for profit on and offline gathering that make itself redundant (like all good charity/philanthropic enterprises should!) by empowering each other to Designing products/services that will last and achieve lasting results?
I call it ToLast.org thoughts? who can make this happen? What are the key steps? comments/suggestions below or please message me directly. [email protected]