A short monologue by Vishen Lakhiani arguing that true success is measured by lives improved and contributions created, not wealth. He urges entrepreneurs to first ask whether a long pursuit is worth their time, accept life’s inevitable ups-and-downs as signs of aliveness, and favor obsessive problem-focus over vague passion.
Chapters
I always told our children their success will always be defined by how many lives they have improved, not how much money they have in the bank. And their self worth never comes from how much you own. It comes from what they have actually contributed or created. And if you have not created anything and you still own a lot, you're simply a parasite on society. Most entrepreneurs looking at this thing, well, this glass is half empty or half full. Well, that is not the point. The point is, do we want to fill this glass or not? Is this glass even worth filling? Because what you're saying is that is my time worth it to be spending a decade of my life trying to pursue something that I may end up regretting? So my goal really is to find out should I even be spending my time filling this glass, rather than focusing on is this glass half empty or half full. The only way you know you're alive is you have a heartbeat that goes up and down and up and down and down. And when it's flat, you're dead. So anytime you're looking for a smooth life, you're asking to live a life of a dead person. And this ups and down tells you you're alive. So when you are down, all you have to do is hunker down and know the next beat is going to be up. And when you're on top of that beat, never become too arrogant, because always remember, the winter is coming. And winter shall come. And winter is coming. Making money is like having an orgasm. That means when you focus on it, you're never going to get it. The only way to get orgasm is to actually just enjoy the process of doing it right. So number one thing I find is passion. Passion is for losers. Passion is for hobbies. The real entrepreneurs have obsession. Obsession not for things or people. Obsession to solve the problem.
