I have a history of changing and trying different things. I can learn things relatively quickly than the average person however there comes a point where I reassess what I am doing and most of the time change my course of action. A huge goal of my life is to be extremely wealthy. However, many of the businesses I chose or that was choosen for me "up for debate" has been slow growth businesses. The business don't have much rooms to scale very quickly because I prefer the own and rent model. As it doesn't take up much time so I can spend learning new things. The two businesses are real estate and car rentals. I finally realized that the majority of the value in the business is from the capital built up and management. So I decided to go into the arts and businesses that I create value for business. My most recent Art business is music. I tried painting and not that interested or also its not really scalable. I also worked on fashion design however I ended up outsourcing the entire design process and without sufficient knowledge of the design process my value to the business was pretty much zero. Anyways I feel like I have gaps in my knowledge and understanding to get to the next level of personal development and financial success. Any suggestions to help speed up this process?

Thank you

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Max Hodges

May 05, 2020

40

It's easy to be happy: give up on your goals. After I finish some project or solve some problem, I enjoy a brief moment of happiness. Then I quickly move on to the next challenge. If we simply bask in that happiness forever, we'd never get anything done. Happiness should remain a byproduct of accomplishing goals; not a goal in itself.

People are pretty shallow and dull. Maybe this is because they are already too happy with themselves. We have lot of problems in the world that could use some attention, Maybe we'd be better off if people were less happy about things. If on a scale of 1 to 10 most people report their Happiness score at 6 or 7, maybe we'd be better off if most people were a 4 or 5 instead.

Instead of a "happy life" choose to have a meaningful life. And, research supports the idea that life with moderate stress is actually more meaningful than a easy life. (See "The Upside of Stress" by Kelly McGonigal, chapter 6 "Grow: Adversity Makes You Stronger").

So what are you really asking for here? Advice on how to get rich? Advice on how to be happy? Or advice on how to find a career you'll enjoy? Success isn't all about money. It's about liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.

Making money from music and painting is notoriously difficult. Same with fashion design. Avoid--unless you have a undeniable burning passion for designing clothes (and it doesn't sound like you do). The job outlook for Fashion Designers for the next 10-years is 200 jobs (basically zero growth).

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/arts-and-design/fashion-designers.htm

You might want to checkout the Design Your Life book which came out of Stanford. I see they have a new "Design Your Work Life" book, which I've not read. But the original book is excellent:

https://designingyour.life/designing-your-work-life-book/

Here's some great general advice that might help you get you know yourself better:

https://www.gq.com/story/yuval-noah-harari-tech-future-survival

Thank You for your input.