October 26, 2005
Sacrifice and Success
"Nothing worthwhile is gained without sacrifice (353)."
- Martin Luther King
"I have no doubt that all self-denial is good for the soul (327)."
- Gandhi
Do you agree with this? I used to believe that I could achieve all my goals without sacrificing anything. However, I have changed 360 degrees. I don't believe that one should sacrifice for the sake of sacrificing, but I think as one pursues their goals one will realize that many of their original beliefs, actions, values, etc. are not effective and will have to change. Sacrifices that I've made are:
- Letting go of sweets and alcohol. I used to eat candy by the pound and party on the weekends.
- Working 70 hours a week. I've always worked hard, but I used to work less. While some people are able to accomplish huge things while working little, I'd rather put all my resources to the attainment of what's important to me so that I know I tried my best.
- No more TV. While I enjoy TV, having it in the house is too tempting as a time drain.
- No more games. I used to love computer games, especially civiliization. One day I deleted every one from my computer and I haven't gone back.
- Not eating meat. I don't eat meat because of health, but also because I don't agree with the way animals are treated while they're alive. Having grown up with animals, I think many animals have the ability to love life just as much as many humans. I don't think the quality of something's life should be judged by intelligence alone.
- Less friendships. I've consciously made the choice to not go to many events and parties that I know could build closer friendships. This is something that I still struggle with, but I'd rather build very close relationships with people who think big and have similar values.
Obviously, there's much more stuff that I've had to sacrifice.
Moving forward, I picture the sacrifices becoming larger, not smaller. This is challenging as these sacrifices will have an effect on Sheena so I need to take this into account. I imagine potentially sacrificing the following:
- My Life. As I get stronger in my beliefs and build more of an international platform, I know there will surely be people who disagree with me. Depending on the issues, there could be people who disagree strongly enough that they want me dead. I obviously don't want this, but I'm willing to take a path that could increase the likelihood of this.
- Living Location. I don't want my expenses to increase with my revenue. I believe that happiness is correlated to a certain amount of financial well-being, but beyond that I think it is internal and I want to take full control of that. As such, I'm willing to live in socially undesirable places or at least in a very simple, unassuming house. I admire people like Warren Buffett. He has lived in the same house for the last few decades even as he's gone from millionaire to billionaire.
- Shopping Decisions. I know that many of the goods I purchase now are probably made in conditions that I would consider unethical. At the same time, those conditions might be better than what the workers would have had otherwise. I want to understand this issue more and ultimately put my dollars where my mouth is.
- Family. Although, I very much want to have children and be a great father, part of me knows that my personality and trajectory, may not make this possible to the extent I want. I don't know if having both is possible. This is difficult to think about and especially difficult to talk about with Sheena.
Posted at October 26, 2005 05:34 PM
One item I would council revisiting is the "less friendships." It's true that going to parties and so on can be time draining and they won't necessarily produce much value for you, but sometimes they can be good business networking opportunities.
Depending on who else is attending, you may find compatible entrepreneurs you can collaborate with, or potential customers and clients, and you may be able to spread some goodwill and gain free word-of-mouth exposure just by being sociable, and talking about your projects in a no-pressure kind of way.
Not every social event has equal value, but you can make the most of your "downtime"...
Hi Jason,
I agree with you about social events. I was particularly thinking about ones based upon drinking as much as possible and just having fun.
I like having fun, of course, and I don't mind other people drinking. I just like social events that are under the context of building deep connections with others and having fun.
Also, I agree about the "good business networking" opportunities." I think I probably miss a fair amount that could be very helpful for this. At the same time, I feel more in my element when I can meet with a small group of people and have a long conversation with them.
Have social events been very important for building friendships in your life?
Not every interaction has to be deep to be worthwhile, but I'm also more comfortable in smaller groups. Even so, at larger, noisier parties I've met several people who eventually helped me with events or projects, contributed some kind of valuable insight or expertise, suggested potential customers that I hadn't known about, or even started buying some of my products. You can certainly cluster into smaller groups and chat about something of mutual interest, so just because the scale of a particular social event isn't automatically comfortable doesn't mean you can't make it work for you.
For me, developing friendships has been more one-on-one or a side effect of hosting my own dinner parties, but unlike when I worked for a huge corporation, I no longer place a stark dividing line between social and business interactions. I sometimes feel like going to an event is work, too.
Ha, ha,.. I guess you meant you changed 180 degrees :)
Great blog,
Cheers,
Eitan.
I couldn't agree more with this post. I have also implemented some lifestyle changes to improve my life and business. I think we allow our selves to be distracted too easily by things that have know worth. Having a mission statement that defines what we truly consider important in our lives will increase our quality of life. Thanks for the great blog. Good luck. You are on the right track
great blog,
on certain issues like abstaining from meats, well it might be good to do that for your health. But an assertion of just being good to the animals might not be worthwhile, for God gave us authority over these animals and everytyhing that we can do what we want.
