Bryan JohnsonFounder of Blueprint and Don't Die

At age 21 I knew I wanted to help humanity

31 May 2024 · 0 min

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In this interview segment, Bryan Johnson recounts a life‑changing mission trip to Ecuador where he witnessed extreme poverty, which sparked a deep desire to benefit all of humanity. At age 21 he set a personal mission to amass wealth by his thirties as a means to achieve that broader purpose, despite feeling he had no notable skills. When asked how he intended to generate the money, Johnson explains that he chose entrepreneurship, believing that resourcefulness, tenacity, and persistence are sufficient foundations for success, even without a specific technical background.

I served a mission in Ecuador and where I was there among extreme poverty. And it just was a life changing experience to go from this middle class US life to poverty, dirt floors, mud hats. I came home to the US and the only thing I cared about doing was something that would help all of humanity. And so I determined at 21, I'd make a whole bunch of money. By age of 30, I'd find out what I'd do. And that was just my orientation, really. I wasn't good at anything. I thought, yeah, but me too.
But it didn't happen. The money didn't. I'm still.
Waiting.
So you must have been. Did you excel at something to figure out how to get there? Were you a techie? How did you make the money?
I had no skill sets of note. I just thought I looked at what I was good at and it was like nothing came up. And I thought, you know, I'll become an entrepreneur. Because to be an entrepreneur, you basically just need to be resourceful and be tenacious and like, ultimately, if you push long enough, you may find it.