Give me a portion of that success, please.
Or a minute why success is a myth.
Let me start with a thank you.
For the feedback and suggestions on how to make this newsletter better, more interesting, and more useful.
Thank you, Frederick!
It’s true, your point is crucial—no one wants to read a long email.
After all, it’s not a novel.
What’s funny is, I already know this from reading other newsletters. And a long email takes way more time to craft.
So, from now on, the emails will (hopefully) be shorter and lighter.
Anyway, I appreciate any feedback and suggestions.
Everyone has their own definition of success.
But:
- Evolution designed our brains in a way that they need different stimuli. Otherwise, the lazy thing just refuses to work.
- We can’t control our brains. We can only come up with tricks to swap one stimulus for another.
- Status in the eyes of others, especially “our people,” matters to most.
- People are social creatures.
These are facts.
You can feel however you want about them, but they don’t care.
No matter what success means to you personally, you’re always comparing.
Because success isn’t a state—it’s a measure.
A measure only makes sense if there’s something to measure.
He’s more successful.
This one? Total loser.
But who’s the judge?
You are.
You judge based on yourself, or rather, your sense of self.
Who set the rules?
Society, your surroundings, close and important people who shape your personality.
Is a monk in his cell successful?
Is a lifeguard?
A teenager?
They don’t think about it.
Yet:
- The monk battles his passions, catching himself thinking he’s more ready for the robe.
- The lifeguard wants a new car because his neighbor got a cooler one.
- The teenager… used to dream of impressing his classmates, now just wants more likes.
We all judge each other.
Constantly.
And there’s no getting away from it.
For some, it’s about how much money the person across the table has in the bank.
For others, it’s about whether their avatar has a diamond in the metaverse.
None of this really matters.
We’re not in a primitive society where such "signs of success" were essential for survival.
Back then, it was all about the survival of the species.
Now, it’s more likely contributing to its downfall.
We don’t have another life. We’re all going to die.
On our deathbed, we’re all equal—billionaire or beggar.
And the only thing that will matter is what you leave behind in this world.
Your legacy.
Will you be able to say, “Yes, I lived and achieved success”?
Or did you waste yourself chasing shiny trinkets?
That’s the only thing that truly matters.
It doesn’t matter what your legacy looks like.
Happy and successful children.
Scientific discoveries.
A stable business.
Healthy patients.
Family wealth.
Lives saved.
Even just the places you’ve visited, if that’s your measure of success.
What matters is what’s meaningful to you.
Not because someone told you it’s important, prestigious, successful, a must-have, etc.
Are you ready to fight and overcome for something?
Only you decide what success is for you.
It’s your life.
The only one.
Don’t trade it for worthless crap.
If you want to know more about other mess-ups and lessons on my entrepreneurial journey — subscribe to Eugene’s Stories.
See you soon!
- Eugene
And one more thing.
- Eugene
Join the “most offbeat” Businessletter on entrepreneurship.
Hi, I’m Eugene.
Over the past 20+ years, I’ve grown an international agency from one-person freelance to a multimillion-dollar business. I’ve led teams, scaled systems, burned out, rebuilt, and learned (the hard way) what it really takes to run a business that doesn’t consume your life.
I help them make sense of complexity, design simple systems, and create the kind of business they actually want to run.
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