School, university and corporate life inculcate a need for status.
Are you a prefect? Are you a PhD? Are you a CEO? Do you drive a nice car? How many people work for you?
These become the definitions of success.
An entrepreneur knows these questions are meaningless. Once you’re stripped to the bone and left to fend for yourself in the wild it becomes very apparent very quickly that what other people think simply does not matter.
The only thing that matters is what you think. And the only way to consider yourself a success is to actually be a success, not look like a success.
When the penny drops the trappings become meaningless:
- Staff – Some people define their career by how many staff they have. An entrepreneur knows that success is inversely correlated with number of staff.
- Title – Titles are important to some people. Its important to be called CEO or CFO or VP or whatever. An entrepreneur knows that a title is actually limiting because not only does it put you in a box, but it ties you down, limiting your ability to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.
- Car – Ever walk into the parking lot of a bank? You’ll see a lot of cars that cost more than the average person’s annual gross income. Why have a fancy car? All you do is make yourself a target for the wrong kind of people.
The definition of financial success is earning the freedom to do what you want to do, not what you have to do.
The rest is noise.