I believe you, like me, and many others, have once dreamed of a future where we would join the ranks of the rich and famous and rub shoulders with the elite, the cream of the crop in the society.
Perhaps some of us still do.
Personally, I have never viewed wealth as an end goal. Does it mean that I am not a person of any value? Am I an individual who suffers from a lack of aspiration?
Far from it.
I believe in constant self-improvement and strive to become a better version of myself from yesterday — intellectually and emotionally mature and to evolve into a more well-rounded person.
What gets me going is not in the monetary form. I see the activities that I engage in as opportunity to explore, learn, and actualise my potentials.
American author, Justine Musk, also known as the ex-wife to technology entrepreneur, Elon Musk, recently answered a question on Quora, a public question-and-answer website actively used by the entrepreneurial community, titled “Will I become a billionaire if I am determined to be one and put in the necessary work required?”
“No.” was how Justine Musk started her reply. “One of the many qualities that separate self-made billionaires from the rest of us is their ability to ask the right questions. This is not the right question.”
What is the right question then? I ponder.
It depends highly on what you are seeking and how you envision your life to be.
I follow a very basic principle: take one step at a time. “Have I done my best?” is the one question I have repeatedly asked myself. We often have the answers ready, the tricky part is to be truthful to ourselves.
A journey to self-discovery
The narrative does not end even when one has succeeded.
In my line of work, I have had the privilege to meet and be acquainted with new generation of achievers, of whom are just over the threshold of thirty years of age. Some who made it to the top made sure to never become stagnant. They continued to grow and evolve and become better.
Some of them found success not by searching for it, they buried their heads in doing things that matter to them and to the community they deeply cared for. Success followed.
In a more modern term, everyone wants to become the next “hot stuff” of a specific domain. Success can be very subjective, each holds an opinion of their own. There is no one way to success. There is no one recipe, guide or truth to achieving.
I see it more akin to a journey to self-discovery. In the process to achieving, we start to realise the good, the bad and the ugly sides of ourselves.
Scary, yes. But one key difference between those who have succeeded and those who have not, is whether one choose to ignore our weakness or do we act on it.
The highest purpose of intellectual cultivation is to give a man a perfect knowledge and mastery of his own inner self; to render our consciousness its own light and its own mirror.
- Frederich Leopold von Hardenberg