How To Turn Down $1,000,000 And Feel Good About It.

My pal’s dog, Franky, is a frisky, youthful chocolate lab, so happy to just be there. An endearing quality.??

Recently, as I ate a banana, Franky hounded me, seemingly begging for a morsel. I bit off a piece as he sat impatiently waiting, fiercely wagging his tail. His eyes on the prize, he yipped and salivated with excitement. I envied his energy. He eagerly lapped up the piece from my hand, tasted it then dropped it. I tried again. No go.

How much of our lives are spent chasing what we don’t really want?

I’ve found money to be a poor measure of a man’s value, but nearly everyone is in hot pursuit of more of it. What if more people chased the virtues of being a good human? More compassion, more temperance, more wisdom.

Happiness is high on everyone’s wish list, every minute of every day we measure it. Seeking wealth as a happiness balm is misguided since purchased happiness is fleeting. The exciting luster of that new car, house, or trinket soon fades. And more often, the anticipation of it is more enticing than its receipt.

The freeways of our lives are jammed, drivers chasing the illusion of happiness at breakneck speed but never catching up. Meanwhile, happiness is had by stopping to smell the roadside flowers.

Check out this pearl, “Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.” — Epictetus

Through this lens, you would not be shocked by Grigori Perelman’s refusal of a $1M mathematical prize.??

Since his birth on June 13, 1966, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Grigori has risen to be recognized as one of the world’s brightest mathematical minds. He’s solved some of the greatest conundrums in world history, some of which have stymied the most brilliant minds for hundreds of years. A few accomplishments:

• Gold medalist in the 1982 International Mathematical Olympiad.
• Earned a doctorate, then became a researcher and professor in the US and Russia.
• 1994 he solved the Soul Conjecture.
• Recognized for groundbreaking work in convex geometry, negatively curved hyperspace, Alexandrov spaces, and comparison geometry.

Yawner topics for those of us with normal brains, but you have to be amazed. Grigori’s trajectory put him on the world’s radar in 2006 when he turned down a $1M Fields Medal prize for solving the Poincaré conjecture. Awarded by the Clay Mathematics Institute, it’s the equivalent of an Oscar.??

So difficult was the centuries-old problem, verification of Perelman’s solution took several years to be certified. In case you’re wondering about Poincaré conjecture specifics, according to Wikipedia:?Originally conjectured by?Henri Poincaré?in 1904, it is a?theorem?about the?characterization?of the?3-sphere, which is the?hypersphere?that bounds the?unit ball?in?four-dimensional?space.??Easy peasy, definitely worth $1M.

Why not take the money? Perelman quipped, “I’m not interested in money or fame. I don’t want to be on display like an animal in a zoo.” He knows who he is and is fearless about alignment with his values.??

Perelman is not wealthy. Although somewhat reclusive, he’s seen as scruffy, wearing tattered clothes and content being jobless. He lives in a small flat in St. Petersburg, Russia with his mother and sister.

Here’s the icing on the cake. A reporter was rebuffed by Grigori, “You are disturbing me. I am picking mushrooms.” Such a perfect picture of the pursuit of what matters most. While you might depart from Perelman’s appreciation of $1M, you have to admire the clarity of his quest in pursuit of his purpose.

Victor Frankl said, “The meaning of life is to give life meaning.” Perelman does it in spades. His mission is clear and his actions align. Think of your own life and those you observe, chances are good that countless ships have left port without a pointing compass designating the destination.

Are you chasing bananas you don’t even want? Ask yourself:

1. Have I clearly defined what I want in life?
2. Are my actions in alignment with my values?
3. Is my vision of happiness tied to the right thinking?

Whether personally or in business, chasing what you don’t want is wasteful. It takes time, talent, and energy away from what matters most. Chase that.